Not long after parting with Su Ge, while Lin Shilan was searching for the dog on the road, her phone rang.

It was Tan Ziheng calling.

“Xiao Lan, where are you?”

She told him her location, and Tan Ziheng also told her the situation on his end.

“I just went home to check. Xiao Jin hasn’t come back yet. The lights are on at your house, so I went upstairs to ask your mother about the little dog. She said the dog was given to her colleague. She didn’t throw it on the street. Your mother is still angry, so you shouldn’t go back today. I’ve already talked it over with her—you’ll stay overnight at my place.”

Lin Shilan opened her mouth, wanting to say something… the words reached her lips, but then she felt, forget it.

Her mother’s maneuvers—this wasn’t her first day witnessing them.

Tan Ziheng had definitely helped persuade her mother quite a bit. He summarized his conversation with her mother as “she’s still angry.” Lin Shilan knew in her heart that her mother had definitely cursed her crazily. Jing Jing had been given to her colleague, and now she had to go beg her mother to get the dog back.

Mentally exhausted, so exhausted that Lin Shilan couldn’t speak.

Tan Ziheng on the other end of the phone seemed to sense her distress.

“I’ll come pick you up now. You’ve been searching for the dog without even stopping to eat. What would you like to eat in a bit? I’ll take you there.”

“Mm, thank you, Ziheng-ge, for helping. I’ll wait for you to come.” Lin Shilan’s voice was muffled: “There’s also a girl helping me look for the dog. I’ll hang up the phone first. I need to contact her.”

“No need to thank me. Go ahead and contact her. I’ll be right there.”

The call ended.

Lin Shilan dialed the phone number Su Ge had left.

She picked up quickly.

Before Lin Shilan could speak, Su Ge said in an extremely quiet voice: “I’ve run into some trouble.”

Then her phone disconnected.

Lin Shilan called again, calling several times with no one answering.

Not knowing what had happened on Su Ge’s end, Lin Shilan felt somewhat anxious.

The reliable Tan Ziheng appeared in time.

He picked Lin Shilan up in his car. After hearing her describe Su Ge’s situation, he calmly reassured her.

“It’s fine. Your friend is at the petrochemical plant. That’s not far from here. We’ll just drive straight in to find her.”

“Mm!”

Lin Shilan didn’t go correct the word “friend.” The situation was sudden. Su Ge had gotten into trouble because of her. She had to go find her and couldn’t care about her own fear of the petrochemical plant.

“But, Ziheng-ge, if you drive in, will it be convenient? Won’t they stop us?”

“It’s convenient.” He flicked on his turn signal and was already starting to drive toward the petrochemical plant: “Did you forget? My dad is a manager there. I’m very familiar with the petrochemical plant. My brother and I played there since we were little. The uncles and aunties at the petrochemical plant all know me.”

She nodded, her gaze showing gratitude as she looked at him.

Sitting in the car, Lin Shilan continued calling Su Ge.

The repetitive sound of windshield wipers and the monotonous dial tone mingled together inside the car.

Tan Ziheng’s car passed through different road sections. He focused on looking ahead, his profile alternating between bright and dim.

They could actually say something to fill this current gap, but neither spoke.

Topics that came to mind… what her mother said? Things that happened while searching for the dog? Su Ge? It seemed they could all be discussed, but there was no mood for chatting.

Once upon a time, he was the big brother, and she was the little neighbor girl who liked to cling to him asking questions.

The rainy season was so long. They were too far from that time now, so far that they were somewhat at a loss for words.

Lin Shilan glanced at her phone. Tan Jin still hadn’t called back.

She sighed, tilted her head, and looked outside.

They arrived at the petrochemical plant.

Pipes, smokestacks, large oil tanks.

In the darkness of night, they appeared even more massive and terrifying.

Tan Ziheng rolled down the car window and greeted the people at the security booth. The security guard recognized him and readily raised the barrier, letting him in.

The car slowly drove into the petrochemical plant.

Lin Shilan didn’t dare look outside at all.

The bottom of the car where her feet were stepping, which had originally been solid and hard, was now slowly sinking down, becoming soft, like stepping in muddy ground.

She had to dig her fingernails into the car’s seat cushion to prevent herself from sliding down.

There was water.

Water was seeping in.

Staring at the car roof in shock, she drew in a sharp breath of cold air, then looked toward the car windows.

Water was squeezing in through all the cracks in the car.

Was the rain outside too heavy?

The situation before her eyes was more like their car was driving into a lake.

Large amounts of water were eagerly trying to drill into the car.

She turned her head to look at Tan Ziheng, whose complexion showed no change.

Ahead, pitch-black water currents were boiling.

Her feet had left the ground, soaked in ice-cold water, swaying powerlessly.

This current of water was about to spread to their knees.

If the car continued forward, it would be submerged.

“Zi, Ziheng-ge?”

She wanted him to stop.

Hearing her call, his head rigidly turned toward her.

His handsome face was ghastly pale. She discovered that his ears were seeping water.

His lips were moving.

A thin stream of water flowed out along the corner of his mouth.

Tan Ziheng was speaking. Lin Shilan couldn’t hear what he was saying.

Wait, was that Tan Ziheng?

The more she looked, the less that face resembled him.

His eyebrows stretched longer, his eyes narrowed, his face like a steamed bun on a steamer, puffing up as if inflated… His cracked, pale, swollen arm rapidly left the steering wheel, raised high, about to grab her.

Lin Shilan screamed and dodged backward.

Unable to avoid it, that hand still landed on her shoulder.

“An…swer… the… phone…”

Violently shaken by that ghostly hand, the water plugging Lin Shilan’s ears suddenly cleared. Only then did she clearly hear Tan Ziheng’s voice.

“Xiao Lan, answer the phone quickly!”

Su Ge’s phone, which she’d been calling, had connected at some point.

She looked down. Her phone already showed a call duration of ten seconds.

Everything in the car was normal.

No water flooding in, no Tan Ziheng who looked different.

“Hello, hello?” Wiping away sweat, Lin Shilan stammered as she brought the phone to her ear.

A cursing old man had snatched away Su Ge’s phone.

“Are you this girl’s accomplice?”

“Recently the plant keeps having things stolen. Today I finally caught this thief!”

“Her grandmother’s, I hate the most these ill-mannered teenagers. So young and already a thief, refusing to admit it, even trying to run away! I’m definitely taking her to the public security bureau to handle this matter!”

The old man’s voice was loud. Even without the speakerphone on, Tan Ziheng had heard his words.

Pulling the car to the side and stopping, he indicated for Lin Shilan to give him the phone.

“Hello, I’m that girl’s older brother. Talk to me.” Tan Ziheng’s voice was steady, naturally carrying a reassuring energy.

After speaking a few sentences with the other side, he easily resolved the conflict: “This is a misunderstanding. I’ve already driven into the petrochemical plant. Where are you? I’ll come pick her up and explain to you in person.”

Hanging up the phone, Tan Ziheng unbuckled his seatbelt, preparing to get out of the car with Lin Shilan.

“We’ll walk to the management office. Your friend is there. The patrolling old man detained her. She came in through a small path, and she was holding a wash basin, looking suspicious. The old man thought she was a thief and caught her…”

While speaking, he noticed that Lin Shilan beside him had an unfocused gaze.

“What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”

He pulled out a tissue and handed it to Lin Shilan.

She didn’t take it.

“Cold.” She said.

“Did you catch a chill from getting rained on? My fault, I forgot to get you an umbrella earlier.”

Stuffing the tissue into her hand, Tan Ziheng patted her shoulder: “How about this—you stay in the car and rest. I won’t turn off the engine. I’ll turn on some heat for you.”

Lin Shilan nodded.

She didn’t stand up, didn’t accompany Tan Ziheng to find Su Ge—not because she didn’t want to.

A pair of withered hands was pulling at her legs from under the car, preventing her from standing up.

Water splashed against the car door.

Leaving handprint after handprint on the glass.

Once, twice, again.

Palms rubbing against the glass, making swishing sounds, sounding like the operation of windshield wipers.

But right now, the wipers were clearly turned off.

All of this, Tan Ziheng couldn’t see or hear at all.

Lin Shilan didn’t dare get out of the car.

Outside the car, on the pitch-black water surface, corpses were strewn everywhere.

Something wanted to come in to find her.

From all directions came dull sounds of things slapping the car body.

Each one made her body shrink along with it.

That sound, so close at hand, she squeezed her eyes shut in discomfort.

Tan Ziheng left the keys in the car and got out alone.

As the car door closed with a “bang—” her world also became quiet.

Lin Shilan’s eyes opened slightly, just a crack.

Outside, Tan Ziheng gradually walked away, his silhouette melting into the black curtain of night.

She collapsed powerlessly against the seat back.

—It’s a hallucination.

She thought about those psychiatric terms the doctor had taught her to recognize, using this to persuade herself to pull herself together: Just false images produced by the brain, not real.

—Don’t listen, don’t look, don’t think.

The petrochemical plant at night was so tranquil.

The car’s interior lights were on, warm air blowing on her arms, the shrill sound of rain isolated outside.

Gripping the seatbelt tightly with both hands, Lin Shilan breathed deeply in and out, gradually calming down.

Much better.

The hallucination had receded.

Mustering her courage, she glanced at the glass on her right side.

It was clean, with only traces left by raindrops.

Rustle rustle.

Someone was laughing in the wind.

“Lin Shilan.”

A familiar boy’s voice.

He always liked to call her that way. When walking on the road, he’d run over and call out to her.

His voice was full of energy, warm and lighthearted.

She almost instinctively looked in the direction of the voice.

Under the car, a pair of withered hands soaked in water.

They had been pulling on her feet from the beginning.

Right there, in the deep bottom of the water, floated a dead man’s face.

It was the face of the dead Tan Jin.

His hands circled her ankles, firm like a knotted rope strangling to death.

Both eyes as if covered by pitch-black large hands, Lin Shilan suddenly couldn’t see anything.

Her eardrums boomed, the sound of her drumming heartbeat.

Her limbs went numb, losing control of her body. She trembled, her brain crashing.

He smiled at her, lightly and shallowly.

He heavily dragged her underwater.

Along with his movement, Lin Shilan’s entire body sank down…

Ten minutes later.

Tan Ziheng led Su Ge back to the car.

The temperature inside the car was comfortable.

In the front seat, Lin Shilan was breathing evenly.

Her head was tilted against the car window, motionless.

They exchanged glances and got in the car tacitly without making too much noise, both thinking that Lin Shilan was tired from searching for the dog today and had fallen asleep in the car.

It was very late.

Even though Su Ge said her home was nearby, Tan Ziheng still insisted on taking her to her doorstep.

All along the way, Lin Shilan’s position didn’t change.

Before long, they arrived at Su Ge’s home.

When she got out of the car, Tan Ziheng turned on the interior light. Looking back at Lin Shilan, he only then saw that her forehead was red, as if she’d bumped it.

“Xiao Lan, Xiao Lan…”

He called her several times. She had no reaction whatsoever.

Tan Ziheng sensed something abnormal and hurriedly drove toward a nearby clinic.

Lin Shilan’s phone kept vibrating.

Freeing one hand, Tan Ziheng helped her answer the call.

“Xiao Jin!”

He called out warmly, but Tan Jin was very displeased.

“Why are you the one answering her phone?”

“Ai, Xiao Lan fainted. I just discovered it. I need to rush her to the clinic.”

“What! Fainted?!”

“Which clinic? I’ll come right away!”

Tan Jin’s volume was frighteningly loud. Tan Ziheng silently held the phone away.

“The clinic next to home. Just stay at home. I can handle it. You don’t need to…”

The dial tone cut off his second half of the sentence.

His brother had already hung up.