Chapter 3 Horror Interview
In Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Japanese, the pronunciation of the number 4 is similar to “death”, so it is often considered an unlucky number. For example, some buildings do not have 4 floors or 14 floors. For a ship named No. 4, Taiwan does not have a license plate with a single digit of 4. When choosing a mobile phone number, we tend to avoid numbers ending in 4.
I didn’t believe in these idealistic things before, but that night, when I looked at the house number above my head, I fell into deep thought.
“Room 444.”
The address on the small advertisement is completely correct. Even I can’t believe that there is such a place in Jiangcheng.
“Do you want to go in?”
It’s as if the game has reached the last level, and my mood is very complicated now.
The dark corridor has no end in sight, and occasionally you will step on dry and cracked rotten wood and the corpses of bugs. What makes me more concerned is that this is the fourth floor underground. The wolves also stopped working, and I lost all protection against what was about to happen with my bare hands.
The gloomy and frightening environment and the acrostic poems written by the old lady made me fearful, and the more I thought about it, the more frightened I became.
“If it’s all just a prank or an alternative variety show, then the other party’s handwriting is a bit too big, and I looked everywhere, and I didn’t find cameras and obvious human traces. This doesn’t seem to be a joke.”
With my palm on the doorknob, I imagined that when I opened the door, there would be more than a dozen cameras inside, and the host in suits and ties would give me a warm hug, holding a microphone and shouting: “Congratulations!” Mr. Gao passed the test, here is a one million bonus for you…”
YY is happy, reality is always sad.
“Crackling”, accompanied by the unpleasant sound of opening the door and flying dust, I entered the house.
“Is anyone there?”
The dim lights flickered overhead, the carpet smelled musty, the rotten tables and chairs were piled up in the center of the room, and four large characters were written crookedly on the innermost wall – Underworld Show.
There are no flashes, cameras, or unjustly dead ghosts with blood on their faces and heads tilted.
There is no best case, no worst case, just an abandoned warehouse inside the door.
“Don’t be careless. Since the address provided by Xia Qingzhi is true, this is probably the first scene where her brother was murdered. That is to say, I am currently in a room where the murder took place.”
Gently closing the door, the flickering light bulb above my head exudes a long-lost light, and I feel a little at ease.
“Is anyone there?” The lights were clearly on, but the furnishings in the house gave people the illusion that it had been abandoned for a long time.
When I stepped on the tattered and damp carpet, it felt very strange, like stepping on **** hair.
There was a groan from the floor under the feet, and one or two corpses of unknown bugs could be seen in the occasionally exposed holes.
The tables and chairs in the center of the room are engraved with various shocking words, and some places have long scars drawn by fingernails. It seems that the people who once sat there have suffered extreme torture and pain.
Walking to the innermost part, the four big characters of Underworld Show were painted on the wall with blood-red paint. At first, it was nothing, but after reading it for a long time, I always felt that the words contained hideousness and weirdness.
“Ordinary pigments or paints will fall off in lumps after being left for a long time, and the color will become darker, reddish brown, which seems to be a characteristic of blood…”
There is also a small door on the side of the inner wall. I searched outside to no avail, so I pushed it open out of curiosity.
“Hiss…” The temperature in the room dropped sharply, I took a breath of cool air, and my body froze at the door.
There is a two-meter-long black tribute table in the not too big room, and three people are sitting side by side on the other side of the table!
They are dressed in formal attire, similar to the radio hosts I thought before. The only thing that makes me feel awkward is that these three people have paper masks on their faces. At first glance, I thought they were three people made of paper. I.
“Are you here for an interview?” The man in the middle raised his head after pauses like a machine, his voice was hoarse and low, as if opening a rusty can.
“Yes, yes, I’m here for an interview.” The three people in front of them couldn’t figure out the details. They might be the murderer of Xia Qingzhi’s brother. They must keep calm in front of such a cold-blooded murderer.
“I accidentally saw your company’s advertisement, and I am very interested in your underworld show. In the Internet age, I firmly believe that only innovation and seeking differences can achieve success, so I want to join you.” Donkey, in order to enhance the persuasion, I also put small crumpled cards on the black tribute table.
“Interested?” The three of them looked at each other. I wonder if it was my illusion. The paper masks on their faces seemed to reveal a chilling smile.
“It’s a coincidence that you found this place, but the anchor of the underworld show is not something that a living person can do.” The masked man crossed his hands and propped his chin, “Can I ask you a few questions?”
“Okay, of course.” I didn’t change my face. I was expelled from the police academy a few years ago. With my forged resume, I almost ran all over the human resources departments of major companies in Jiangcheng. I have already summed up my experience when dealing with interviewers. I have also found template answers to the questions they often ask on the Internet.
With mysterious confidence, I smiled and nodded: “You can ask.”
“Name.”
“Gao Jian.”
“Do you have relevant experience before? For example, have you ever broadcast live on other platforms?”
“Sorry, I don’t have similar experience, but I have a strong ability to communicate and adapt, and I am very suitable to be an anchor in terms of my personality.” Seeking truth from facts, being honest about my shortcomings and emphasizing my advantages One of the interview techniques.
“That’s right, but the anchors of the underworld show are different from the anchors of other platforms. We not only need to communicate with the audience, but more importantly, we need to protect ourselves and keep ourselves alive…”
“Live…” When the interviewer said this sentence, I found that things began to go beyond my control.
“That’s right, it’s very simple, just live.” The man in the middle stroked the mask on his face, making the paper figurine show a strange expression: “There are countless legends hidden in our city. Stepping up and down the stairs, taking the last train of the dead, the erratic face in the early morning surveillance, the little girl in red who has been hovering at the door… There are too many similar legends, are they all fiction?”
“Probably…” If it was before coming here, I would have said without hesitation: Yes, those are all made up.
“Wait, listen to what you mean, does the anchor of our underworld show go to those places every day to search for material?!”
“The reaction is quick, I appreciate you a little bit.” The giggling laughter is hardly human-like, “It’s exciting to be active in the shadow of midnight and directly hit the city’s most frightening horror Is it?”
“Live broadcasting the scene in the ghost story is quite curious, and it may satisfy the psychological needs of a large number of people.”
To be fair, I don’t hate watching horror movies, but if you ask me to be the protagonist of a thriller, that’s a completely different situation.
Just simply imagining that I have to turn over the coffin boards at night, pry open the door of the yin house, and maybe be chased by a bunch of spirit ghosts, I feel uncomfortable all over.
“Ghost story? No, no, it seems that you still haven’t figured it out.” The masked man propped his chin with his hands, and his eyes hidden under the paper figurine pierced me like a sharp sword: “Facts are always scarier than stories. I guarantee that the deepest despair you have ever experienced starts from the moment you know the truth.”
“What do you mean?”
“The answer lies in this city. You will become a witness in another world to witness the real horror.” There was no joke in the masked man’s words, his tone was dull and depressing.
“It’s not like a show…” I’m now 90% sure that the Underworld show is not a prank or a variety show, and I seem to have gotten myself into a big trouble.
The body leans back, and the desire to retreat emerges.
But the masked man seems to have known my thoughts long ago, and he didn’t see any movement. The door creaked behind him, and he slowly closed it by himself: “Don’t be nervous, your interview has just begun.”