Free Web NovelChapter 660: Chapter 628: The System Crashed_1
Mr. Zhao was terrified.
Cradling the unconscious Zhou Ning, he quickly dialed Xu Dayuan’s cell phone. ƒrēewebnovel.com
"Leader, don’t hang up, I have an emergency, Zhou Ning has fainted. It’s not a sickness, no, he isn’t sick, oh what am I saying, where do I take him now, someone direct me, I’ll explain in detail when I get there."
After finishing, Mr. Zhao threw the phone into his pocket, turned on the speakerphone, and carried Zhou Ning as he ran toward the car.
Zhou Ning might look skinny, but he was tall, and Mr. Zhao struggled to carry him. Stumbling into the car, he grabbed the police light cap and secured it on top, then floored the accelerator.
"Leader, I’m on Guobin Avenue now, heading east from the west. Have you got it, which hospital am I going to?"
"Go straight to Ganzhou City People’s Hospital. Mr. Huang has already contacted their director. Stay on this road, after crossing three traffic lights, take the second left, and you’re there. Now tell me, what exactly happened? Were you attacked? Or is Zhou Ning injured?"
Mr. Zhao knew Xu Dayuan was panicking. If he didn’t clarify now, he would be even more driven to madness. While driving, he shouted into the phone.
"Don’t panic, leader, I don’t quite understand what happened either. We just went out to eat, and on the side of the road, we saw a demolished residential building. Before eating, Zhou Xiaozhou kept glancing at it several times in the car, and after the meal, he even sent Xia Momo and Zhu Xingxing away.
He insisted on dragging me over to take a look with him. We started outside, I tried talking to him, but he ignored me, found a gap, and squeezed through to stand in front of the guard’s shabby little room, just staring at the building behind it for a long time without moving.
I approached him with the flashlight of my phone, and only then did I see that Zhou Xiaozhou was having some difficulty breathing, his face was deathly pale, his mouth moving, not sure what he was saying, one hand reaching behind toward the building, the other clutching his chest.
Just when I got close to him, he collapsed, so I immediately picked him up. That’s all there was to it. He didn’t hit or bump into anything, there was no sudden incident, just seeing that rundown, demolished building, he had such a big reaction."
Xu Dayuan pursed his lips tightly, contemplating as he looked out of the car window, seeming to understand something.
"Send me the location of that residential building. No, you keep driving, we are at the intersection now. When you see the police car, follow it. Let’s head to the People’s Hospital together, and don’t hang up the phone!"
Mr. Zhao’s panic subsided, he let out a long sigh, and pressed the throttle to the floor.
"Later on, you have to tell Mr. Huang that I ran three red lights today. This car needs to be handled for the traffic violations, don’t come looking for me afterward!"
"Alright, I see you now, be careful turning, turn on the hazard lights, and follow our car."
The phone call ended and Mr. Zhao sighed deeply. As he turned the corner, he saw four or five police cars in front. He glanced at Zhou Ning, who was tied up in the passenger seat.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, what on earth happened to you?"
...
"Dad, where did this wolf tooth come from?"
"A friend brought it back from the North Border. They killed a wolf, and this is a necklace made from a wolf’s tooth. Do you like it? Look, the back of the wolf tooth is engraved with the word ’Xiao Ning.’ This was made especially for you." frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
"Son, wake up, don’t sleep..."
"Xiao Ping, lock the door..."
"Don’t be scared, Xiao Ning..."
Click-clack!
Click-clack!
Click-clack!
Footsteps drew nearer and nearer, as blood beads slowly slid down the fleece-lined boots, the warm blood of his father and mother.
Zhou Ning couldn’t move, and all he could feel was the bone-chilling cold from the floor.
The owner of the shoes was getting closer to the hole in the cardboard box, and he could even smell the tobacco odor on him.
With a click, the shotgun chambered, its barrel slowly adjusted, aiming at the hole in the box. Zhou Ning didn’t hide, staring straight back, and the face became crystal clear.
It was Wang Guanli.
It was Wang Guanli!
But that face was many years younger.
Zhou Ning shook his head violently, as if trying to struggle away from this part, after all, such terrifying images had tortured him for so many years, he didn’t want to be influenced by this image, let alone be controlled by this plot.
But still, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t even breathe, as if trapped inside a small body, unable to break free, a suffocating sensation came over him in waves, and it seemed as if a voice inside his heart was mocking him.
Stop struggling, it’s useless!
Zhou Ning bit his tongue, he couldn’t give up, he didn’t want to be controlled by this dream, each time being dominated by the plot within, unable to move.
No, no, not this time!
With his struggle, the scene before his eyes seemed to change, the sounds in the room seemed to be played in slow motion, and the image even reversed.
As the opening in the cardboard box was covered and the box itself was knocked, his mother, grabbed by the hair, was pulled down from the balcony and thrown hard onto the floor, and Zhou Ning’s body closed its eyes, the young him didn’t dare to look.
He continued to struggle, not knowing which action was effective; his forehead was covered in sweat, as if he was contending with the ten-year-old body for control of it.
Pain, fear, cold, trembling, suffocation, a series of emotions and sensations flooded him like a tide, and just as Zhou Ning couldn’t hold on any longer, he remembered what his mother had shouted from the window down to the ground below.
"Xiao Ning, run, don’t look back."
In an instant, all emotions vanished, and Zhou Ning abruptly opened his eyes, just in time to see his mother on the ground, her neck twisted, but she kept staring in the direction where Zhou Ning was hiding.
Even in death, his mother was looking in his direction, as if to tell him.
"Xiao Ning, don’t be afraid, mom is here, don’t make a sound!"
Scalding tears slipped down, the heat jolted Zhou Ning’s body, and at that moment, he seemed to gain control of his body, biting his back teeth, Zhou Ning leaned forward, almost completely pressing against the hole in the cardboard box.
Three figures appeared before Zhou Ning, the man with a scar and wearing turned-fur shoes was Wang Guanli, of this he could be certain; another short and fat man went to the box where Zhou Ning was, and seemed to look out the window.
"Brother, that bitch threw the kid down from the building, they tied a bedsheet here into a rope, if we rush down now, we’ll run right into the police. It’s just a kid, won’t know anything, we can kill him anytime later, right now we’ve got to save our skins."
As he spoke, the man moved beside Wang Guanli and as he turned around, the image seemed to slow, Zhou Ning saw his fat face clearly, very unfamiliar, but the mole on the lower lip was particularly conspicuous.
As he spoke, the yellow-haired youth moved closer.
This person didn’t speak, slightly taller than Wang Guanli, his narrow and slanted eyes exuded ferocity. Zhou Ning had seen many ruthless killers, but it was rare to see one with such a menacing aura; his face was smiling, but the more he smiled the colder and more sinister his gaze became.
But that face, Zhou Ning felt strangely familiar, full of acne scars, and such slanted eyes, yet he couldn’t recall who it was at the moment, staring intently, wishing he could engrave the faces of the two men in his mind.
Then everything went black before his eyes, the images vanished, and Zhou Ning was freed from the shackles of the young body.
However, the endless darkness didn’t relax him, it was as if innumerable pressures were pressing in from all sides, each force wanting to crush him, to smash him to pieces.
Zhou Ning tried to find his way up, down, left, right, but no images appeared, just a faint glimmer of light far away.
Zhou Ning stood up, feeling the coldness of the ground, and walked toward the light, but the ground seemed sticky and slippery; after just two steps, Zhou Ning slipped and his hands touched many round and slender things.
Having worked as a forensic doctor for several years, he didn’t need to see with his eyes; just by touch alone, Zhou Ning could tell what these things were, and this perception made him clench his teeth tightly.
They were bones, and they had been reduced to white skeletons, as for the sticky feeling on the ground, Zhou Ning didn’t dare to think about it.
Struggling to stand up, he looked at the light and crawled towards it again.
He wasn’t sure if this was a dream or if it was something created by the system, but he knew one thing – if he didn’t resist now, he would probably be trapped in the dream.
At that moment, his mind held no other conviction, only one, to find the light, to find the way out.
As he fell more times, Zhou Ning’s mind became clearer.
He remembered that the system had prompted him that reaching level five as a forensic doctor would restore his memory, and having just seen the other two people, though he had no information on them, was also considered a recovery of memory.
After all, for a ten-year-old child in such a dark moment, to remember so much was already beyond the ordinary, Zhou Ning was not dissatisfied.
So, is the system level now five?
Attaining level five, to then have such memories, to be forcibly drawn into that so-called dream, perhaps what he saw was all a result of the system’s influence?
But why can’t he get out?
