69novels Chapter 40: Eating meat, eating meat, the aroma of meat
Chapter 40: Eating meat, eating meat, the aroma of meat
Media item number 011 is not a video, but an audio clip.
"Sizzle..."
"Hello, I'm Lizhi, a radio host. The story I'm about to tell is based on my own experience, and I hope you'll enjoy it."
"The story I'm about to tell is about my husband. He and I both graduated from broadcasting school. We were classmates for several years, so we know each other very well. He's four years older than me, but we can talk about anything like peers."
"After we got married, he would cook dinner for me every night after get off work, leave a note on the table, and thoughtfully take measures to keep the food warm."
"His cooking skills are superb, and I love to eat his food, but one day I found that I suddenly couldn't eat his cooking anymore."
"Whether it's stir-fry, stew, steamed dishes, or blanched or steamed, I can no longer eat any of the dishes he makes. It's not that I don't want to eat them, but every time I try to chew and swallow them, it's like eating a wet rag; I just can't swallow it."
"Even if I forced myself to swallow it, I would vomit it up very quickly. Many times my stomach hurt from vomiting. Over time, I stopped daring to eat and only dared to drink water."
"I stopped touching the food on the table. My husband thought it was just that the food didn't suit my taste, but I knew very well that I might have anorexia or some other reason that science couldn't explain."
"I became thinner and weaker, but he didn't understand me and didn't help me find any way to solve my loss of appetite. I went to see a doctor, who suggested that I inject glucose to maintain my physiological functions, but I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to lose the joy of eating forever."
"I'm so hungry, I'm so hungry, I'm so hungry," these words kept swirling in my head.
"Until one day, I had a spasm and lay motionless in bed. A stray cat jumped into my window, and my appetite, which I hadn't had for a long time, suddenly returned. I could vaguely hear people talking in my mind."
"That person is saying..."
"Eat meat, eat meat, the meat smells so good..."
"From that day on, I regained my appetite, I learned what I truly loved to eat, and I began searching for the most delicious kind of meat that the voice had described..."
……
The audio playback has finished.
Zhang Ze frowned slightly.
He remembered this ghost story, not because he had heard it somewhere before, but because he knew that the person behind the story seemed to be Lychee, a newcomer to the Ghost Story Association.
The key is...
In chronological order, it would have been impossible for the Ghost Story Association to welcome Lychee as a newcomer at this time, and her flesh-eating ghost stories could not have been born so early.
Even if it were created, it wouldn't match the tone of Lizhi's own account.
"Something's not right. This story doesn't give me any creeps. Is it because I've heard it before?"
Zhang Ze rested his chin on his hand and pondered for a moment.
Suddenly, the door opened.
A young police officer pushed open the door and entered, carrying a boxed lunch. "Mr. Zhang, this is a boxed lunch I got for you. It would be a bit of a shame if you didn't eat it."
"Please wait a moment, I'll make you another cup of coffee."
Zhang Ze glanced at the police officer, who was wearing a uniform with his name embroidered on his armband: Kuai Liang.
Perhaps because he had just heard a strange tale about eating meat, Zhang Ze didn't have much of an appetite and only ate a couple of bites of food before stopping. Kuai Liang brought over a cup of coffee, smiling as he said, "Tonight, another colleague and I are on the night shift. Feel free to ask us for help if you need anything."
"Turn left after you go out and you'll find the restrooms. It's best not to go into the armory casually; if our superiors find out, we'll be punished. You can do whatever you want in the restrooms; Captain Yan should have told you all that."
Zhang Ze nodded.
After Kuai Liang left the room, Zhang Ze used his computer to search for any recent missing persons cases.
The Xicheng Police Station has a dedicated network, and even after a thorough search, Zhang Ze could not find a missing person case that matched the strange tale told by Lizhi.
This is illogical.
The most chilling part of this ghost story is the explosive ending: Lychee's carnivorous urges collide with a missing person case, meaning she has found the meat she truly loves to eat, which is human flesh, one of her own kind.
There was no missing person case, which means that this strange story is very likely not true.
"That doesn't make sense either. Aren't the people from the Ghost Stories Association supposed to be able to tell if a ghost story is real or fake? If it's fake, they should have peeled the lychee alive, but that's not how the story goes later on."
"Which part went wrong?"
Zhang Ze was completely baffled.
The hidden world of strange tales in Hanjiang City seems to be more complex than Zhang Ze imagined, and may only be the tip of the iceberg.
Continue playing the next media.
Media item number 012 is a video.
The perspective is that of a surveillance camera.
The scene is in a hospital ward. There are three beds in the ward, as well as a bed for family members to accompany them. At this moment, there is a patient in each bed, and the patient's name is written at the head of the bed. However, the picture quality is too poor to see what the words are.
The video was sped up, and soon the light outside the window dimmed, and it became dark on the surface.
The three patients fell asleep one after another. After the nurse made her rounds, she left the ward. The ward was quiet and there was no sound.
Suddenly, the old man lying in bed number one sat up, tiptoed to the next bed, and like the non-human monster mentioned in the previous video, walked around the bed a few times, and finally even turned his wrinkled face toward the patient in the bed.
That concludes the video.
Although it's short, it looks very eerie.
"Even though I'd believe it if the image quality told me a UFO had arrived, but..."
"This old man's movements don't seem like those of an elderly person..."
Zhang Ze found it difficult to explain this strange feeling in his heart.
Although it seems natural for an old man to act inhumanly in a ghost story video, there is a sense of incongruity in the video.
For example, the way an elderly person exerts force to get out of bed is not the posture a normal person should have, but it is not a truly bizarre posture like being possessed by a ghost.
If I had to describe him, Zhang Ze would feel more like a young man living inside an old man's body, doing all of this.
After watching two lost media reports, Zhang Ze's doubts not only did not lessen, but intensified.
The lost media is not a series of videos.
For example, in episode 021, Lin Xiaomei and Dr. Gao are trapped in a room and cannot escape. Each replay is like a time loop, and the characters in the video develop self-awareness.
Number 014 begins with a simulated horror-style introduction. A company calling itself Hanjiang City Ghost Story Research Company produced this video to help residents identify non-human monsters, and also posted Lingling's case.
Number 011, radio host Lychee tells her own strange tales about eating meat from her perspective.
Zhang Ze remembered number 012 quite clearly; it was a story told by a newcomer to the Ghost Stories Association, but it felt very out of place to him.