Chapter 127 Come Out!

After recuperating at the Li family's house for a week, Chen Mo found it hard to stay any longer.

From frugality to luxury is easy, from luxury to frugality.

If he stayed any longer, he was afraid he wouldn't even want to go back to his little villa.

Most importantly, he hasn't dared to go out these past few days, and he even has to sneak around when he's cultivating.

He didn't know whether the inspection bureau had come to keep an eye on things.

But Chen Mo remembered clearly the look Shen Dajiang gave him; it was obvious that he was suspicious.

And then there was that deputy director surnamed Zhou, who said he came to offer his condolences, but the look in his eyes behind his glasses clearly carried another meaning.

For the past week, he hasn't even left the courtyard; his food and drink have all been brought into the room by the maids.

It's time to leave now.

There's another thing I need to do.

Lin Ruoyun.

It's merciful enough that that dead woman lived seven more days.

Chen Mo stood up and packed his luggage into a rattan trunk. Fatty had gone out today, so he didn't have to say goodbye to him.

I pushed open the door; the courtyard was quiet.

The moonlight was red, pouring down from above, turning the stone table and benches a dark red.

Two faint barks could be heard in the distance, but then silence fell.

It was very quiet.

The maid was nowhere to be found, and the steward, Old Wu, was also absent.

Chen Mo walked out along the corridor, passed through two moon gates, and arrived at the front yard.

The fat man's car was parked behind the screen wall; it was a black Ford.

Mr. Liu was leaning against the front of the car smoking when he saw him come out. He quickly threw the cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it out with his foot.

"Is Mr. Chen leaving now?"

"Um."

......

The car wasn't moving fast; there were still quite a few pedestrians on the street at this hour.

There was a braised food stall on the street corner ahead, with a kerosene lamp hanging above it. The light was dim and yellow, but it was overshadowed by the moonlight, turning into a pale yellow in the dark red.

The stall owner was chopping something with his head down. The knife fell onto the cutting board with a crisp clang.

Chen Mo leaned against the window, frowning as he peered outside.

After leaving the Li family, he always felt like there was a pair of eyes watching him from the shadows, but he couldn't find where those eyes were coming from.

Master Liu glanced at him in the rearview mirror.

It was a bit strange that this guy chose to go out at this time, but he didn't say anything and just kept driving forward with the steering wheel in hand.

The wheels rolled over the bluestone slabs, the rumbling sound carrying far into the night.

After looking at the street scene for a while, Chen Mo got a little tired of it, leaned back in his seat, and closed his eyes to rest.

The car turned the corner of East Street and drove forward for about the time it takes to smoke a cigarette.

"Strange, there's not a single person on the street."

Master Liu muttered something, not loudly, but enough to alert Chen Mo.

"What's wrong?"

"I clearly saw several people walk by just now," Mr. Liu said, his voice a little strained. "But then they disappeared around the corner?"

Chen Mo opened his eyes and looked out the car window.

The street, which was bustling with pedestrians in the first half, is now completely deserted.

The shops on both sides were closed, their doors dark and gloomy, gleaming a dark red in the moonlight.

Upon closer inspection, the colors of the door panels seemed a bit off.

It's so old, it looks like no one has driven it for decades.

Some of the door panels still had faded paper strips pasted on them, the writing long since blurred and illegible.

"Wait a minute, Mr. Chen..." Driver Liu in the front lowered his voice, as if afraid of being overheard, "Didn't we just drive past this street?"

Chen Mo frowned. "What?"

"Look at that telephone pole," he gestured with his chin, not daring to point, "the plaster on it, the one with red paper and black writing, we saw it when we passed by just now."

Chen Mo followed his gaze.

There was indeed a plaster stuck to the telephone pole, its surface glowing red in the moonlight, with one corner swaying gently in the night breeze.

"Let's keep going and see."

Chen Mo said calmly, while rolling down the car window and discreetly tossing down a wad of paper.

Master Liu responded and accelerated the gas pedal a little more.

The moonlight cast long shadows of the cars, which loomed diagonally against the wall along the street, moving forward with them.

We passed that telephone pole again.

The plaster is still there.

The corner of the paper was still swaying.

Chen Mo stared at it until the car drove past and he saw it getting further and further away in the rearview mirror.

"And that manhole cover."

Master Liu's voice was already trembling a little, "Look at that manhole cover in front, it's missing a corner. I saw it when we passed by just now. The missing corner was facing east, and it's still facing east now."

Chen Mo glanced at the rearview mirror.

The streets behind were deserted, without a single person in sight, only the red moonlight spread across the ground, so thick it seemed impossible to see through.

Master Liu floored the accelerator.

The car sped up, but the scenery outside the window seemed stuck.

After going around in circles, I still encountered that utility pole, with that same plaster on it, and that same chipped manhole cover on the ground.

"Master Chen."

Master Liu's voice was unsteady. "This isn't right. Could we have run into something dirty?"

Chen Mo stared out the window, then suddenly said, "Pull over."

"What?"

"Pull over."

Mr. Liu tapped the brake pedal, and the car slowly moved closer to the side of the road.

The car stopped.

The engine was still running, sputtering away, its sound carrying far down the empty street.

The air inside the car was a bit stuffy, and Mr. Liu's breathing became heavier, panting heavily, as if he couldn't catch his breath.

Chen Mo didn't move either, leaning against the window and looking out of the car.

There was nothing on the street.

There was no one, no dogs, not even the chirping of insects.

There should be crickets chirping this time of year, but right now I can't hear anything.

Only the red moon hung in the sky, shrouding them and the car in that dim light.

"I'll go down and check. You stay in the car and don't come out."

Chen Mo got out of the car and walked a few steps forward.

The pale red moonlight stretched his shadow long, spreading it out on the ground, dark and heavy.

That road is in front, and that road is behind.

The shop doors on both sides were tightly closed, and the signs under the eaves remained motionless.

The utility pole stood a few steps away, with a plaster hanging from it.

Chen Mo took two more steps forward.

The soles of the shoes landed on the bluestone slabs with a particularly crisp sound, *thud*.

It was as if something in the distance was mimicking him and taking a step as well.

He stopped, and the sound stopped too.

He took two more steps, this time deliberately walking lightly.

But the tapping sound continued, neither too close nor too far, neither too fast nor too slow, as if another version of myself was walking ahead.

Chen Mo looked down at his shadow.

The shadow followed him quietly, without doing anything extra.

Suddenly, everything behind me went quiet.

Chen Mo looked back, but there was nothing behind him.

There was no car, no Mr. Liu, and even the headlights had disappeared completely.

He stood still.

This method is not evil.

That must be a person.

"Come out, don't hide."

The sound traveled through the empty street, bounced off the dark shop doors on both sides, and then returned.

No one answered.

Chen Mo waited a few moments before speaking again, "You've been following me all this way, aren't you tired?"

Still, no one answered.

But then the tapping sound started again.

This time it wasn't in front of him, it was behind him.

It was so close, it felt like I was standing right behind him, only two or three steps away.

He didn't turn around; his hands hung at his sides, his fingertips twitching slightly.