Walk through the porch passage.
Walking more than a hundred meters toward the entrance of the hall, passing through the red doors of eight large banquet halls, Jiang Xueming arrived at the first courtyard of the welcome hall.
He saw acres of red pine forests in the courtyard, surrounded by sixteen large terraces. Behind the terraces were the living areas - dining room, bathhouse, entertainment room and gym.
Pass through the main road of the first courtyard and enter the largest internal building of the reception hall.
On the wall of the archway corridor, he also saw the name of this place written on the road sign - it was called [Council of Five Kings].
Walking more than a hundred meters into the arched corridor that is tens of meters wide, you will arrive at the central office.
On both sides are magnificent relief walls and colorful paintings.
Five gold-rimmed oil paintings were hung high in the hall, facing all the guests.
There were people coming and going in the lobby of the office, but it was unusually quiet. I saw waiters taking their passengers to and from various counters to knock out stamps.
In Xueming's opinion, these passengers had no particularly obvious characteristics. They were all men, women, old and young, healthy, sick and disabled. The age distribution is also very random.
He wanted to stop for a few minutes and noticed something fishy, but unexpectedly Xiao Qi took his arm and dragged him to the elevator.
"Don't I need to go through those procedures?" He stood in front of the elevator door, staring at the brass pipes and pure black iron door, looking at the lines on the door.
Xiao Qi replied casually: "No, you are in a hurry. You can also reissue it later."
"Oh..." He suddenly became nervous: "Is it because of Bai Lu's condition?"
Xiao Qi nodded: "Yes, your sister's illness is very special."
Xueming asked: "Do you understand? Brother Qi, can you explain it to me?"
Before he finished speaking, the elevator door opened. Get out of the hustle and bustle of travelers.
Most of them were wearing long clothes to keep out the cold. Their bodies had a strange smell of rust, and they looked sad, as if they had just received bad news.
As they got closer, one of the passengers walked past Xueming.
At that moment, Jiang Xueming clearly captured the clue.
He could see very clearly the tall traveler who had just passed him through the gap in his high-collared coat and hood.
The neck and nose hidden in the shadows are all tinged with scarlet.
Xueming will never forget that color.
That is the disease that afflicts my sister.
He murmured: "They..."
Before she finished speaking, Xiao Qi pulled Xueming into the elevator, "Shh, don't ask any more questions."
There were only two people in the elevator, Xueming and Xiaoqi.
The elevator magnetic card was swiped over the sensor, and the button on the fifty-fifth floor lit up.
What followed was a long wait.
There was no one around, so Xueming finally asked tentatively.
"Those passengers just now...I saw that one of them also had red sores on his face. It was very similar to the strange disease on my sister."
"Yes, they have the same disease." Xiao Qi hugged each other with a serious expression, not joking at all: "That's why we will arrange for you to meet the BOSS in advance."
Xueming was worried: "Are many people suffering from this disease? Is it possible to save it?"
Xiaoqi: "Of course it can be saved, but this is the first time we have discovered [Vita Brand] in the world of ordinary people."
Xueming: "Vita Brand?"
"Yes, the name of this disease is Vita brand. I originally thought that you should have been mentally prepared when you learned the secrets of those two tickets." Xiao Qi turned his head and looked at Jiang Xueming. Eyes: "We are not ordinary people. We can see abnormalities in the ordinary world, things that are invisible to ordinary people. Or the ordinary banknotes in their eyes become bus tickets in our eyes. Have you never thought about it? , our eyes and brains, our bodies and souls are beyond common sense."
Xueming nodded——
——Xiao Qi continued.
"The history of this station is very old. I heard the station administrator grandpa said that when he was young, this station had been in operation for a long time."
Xueming asked again: "What are these passengers taking the bus for?"
"I'm new here, and I don't know much about it, but BOSS has told us part-time workers not to ask about customers' personal affairs. I think it must be a very important matter, just like you came here for your sister. Just like the station, other passengers also have things they must do and reasons why they must go, so they boarded this train." Xiao Qi pondered: "One thing is for sure. I have seen with my own eyes that most passengers come After taking a ride here, the Vita brand will appear on your body.”
Xueming swallowed and became nervous.
"Am I going to get this too? Vita Brand?"
"Not at first." Xiao Qi comforted Xueming: "Only passengers who have traveled too many times, traveled too far in the underground world, and stayed in other places for too long will have such red spots on their bodies."
Xueming asked eagerly: "Does it have any other symptoms? If it is cured...will there be any sequelae? Does the name mean anything?"
“At first, it was very similar to the symptoms of lupus erythematosus.” Xiao Qi carefully recalled the notes in the employee handbook: “The patient’s skin will have large papules and clumps, which will later evolve into fatty nodules, accompanied by angina pectoris and lung disease. of capillary embolism.”
The numbers on the elevator go up little by little.
Xueming's mind went down a little bit.
"This process will be very slow and last for ten months, just like pregnancy. It will be accompanied by great pain." Xiao Qi's tone became colder and colder: "When the patient's skin is completely red, other pathogenic microorganisms will They will take advantage of the collapse of the immune system to swarm in. For example, various cytomegaloviruses and common hepatitis viruses. At this time, patients will start to have nightmares——
——The first thing to fail in the later stage is the patient's lungs and kidneys, accompanied by large areas of organ inflammation. At this time, the patient will begin to suffer from hysteria.
——Dark red butterfly-shaped marks will then appear on the surface of the skin. In the event of heart failure and the collapse of the mental world, the patient will completely fall into madness.
——At the end of death, the digestive tract of almost all patients will stop working, and the fluid in the chest and lung diaphragms will be transferred to the dead lower body. Like a pregnant woman waiting to give birth. "
Just hearing these adjectives and thinking about his sister's miserable state in the hospital bed made his teeth chatter and sweat broke out.
Xiao Qi tried hard to remember, trying to explain every detail in the employee handbook.
"Finally, the umbilical cord that is tightly tied when we are born - at the belly button, the high pressure generated by the fat accumulation in that part will be the first to rupture, disemboweling the patient.
Necrotic 'contents' will pour out from it, as well as clusters of parasites that are symbiotic with the human body. The patient's body is like a nutrient-rich petri dish. During these ten months, it has given birth to these lives. There are two common types of insects.
One of them, we call it Lady White, is a larvae, only as big as a grain of rice and shaped like a gourd.
The other type is the adult body of Mrs. Bai, which we call the crazy butterfly. Its eye pattern is very similar to that of a Morpho butterfly, but all Morpho butterflies are blue. This red Morpho butterfly was born from the Vita imprint and came into the world together with the virus.
After Mrs. Bai leaves the patient's body, she will die within a few seconds in the blink of an eye. But the Mad Butterfly will fly further away, and it seems that the deeper parts of the underground world are its destination. The scales and powder on its body, including itself, are also the source of the spread of Vita's brand... As for the name of this disease..."
Xiao Qi touched her chin and considered it for a long time.
"Vita...Vita...Yes, it comes from the Latin family and represents the meaning of life. When translated, it should be called the imprint of life."
"This damn weird disease... actually has such a name?" Xueming clenched her fists and gritted her teeth at the thought of her sister still suffering from the disease.
"To those bugs." Xiao Qi patted Xueming's shoulder and asked him to calm down: "It is a symbol of life."
"You told me before that there is a special medicine for this disease." Xueming asked aggressively: "As long as I get on the train and return to the station as promised, you will give me the special medicine? Is it true?"
"That's right, Mr. Jiang Xueming." Xiao Qi showed a friendly smile: "Many of our passengers have used this special medicine and have been cured of the Vicat brand on their bodies. There have been no sequelae. But..."
The friendly smile turned into a terrifying sneer.
"I don't know if you can accept it, but I still want to remind you, sir. The main extract of this medicine comes from the larvae of the mad butterfly. We use Madam Bai to make medicine. Its efficacy is very miraculous and can almost cure you. Any disease in the known range - as long as it is an amniotic animal in nature, regardless of whether it is a human or an animal, this panacea can work on them or them."
Jiang Xueming's scalp went numb after hearing these words.
If we say that the special medicine is made from the larvae of Vicat brand.
That petri dish for growing larvae...
"I know what you are worried about." Xiao Qi grinned like a witch who could read minds: "All staff at Jiujie Station, including the pharmaceutical unit, will cherish the life of every natural person in the world. Most of the panaceas you get are made by other methods in the pharmaceutical workshop of the factory."
The elevator doors opened.
The two of them walked outside.
Jiang Xueming didn't know whether what this woman said was true or false.
But does he have any other choice?
"What should I do?" Jiang Xueming calmed down——
——There is only one thing in my mind, get the medicine and save my sister.
"We understand that your family's situation is quite special." Xiao Qi led the way: "So we have directly arranged another bus for you, which can leave at any time."
In the corridor outside the elevator, outside the window is the railway track suspended more than 200 meters in the air.
Xueming saw it——
——He saw the red and black steam train.
"After you get on the bus, BOSS will come to see you in person and tell you what you need to do during this journey." Xiao Qi said as he came to the platform tower and took down a complete set of cold weather clothes from the locker hanger. New clothes for Xueming to put on.
He put on his clothes and they felt very snug, as if they were tailor-made for him.
He asked: "What does BOSS look like?"
"Look up between the second platform and the third platform, at the top of the tallest tower." Xiao Qi pointed somewhere.
Responding to Brother Seven's hand, he was behind a towering tower shrouded in red mist. In the center of the four platforms, under the clock dial of the tallest tower, there is a portrait.
The portrait depicts a young woman wearing a burgundy suit.
She sat in the study, with the old blinds behind her. The desk next to him was piled with documents, as if he was working as a temporary model for a painter. He looked very hasty, and his short black ear-length hair was not taken care of.
No accessories, necklaces, rings or earrings, very simple.
Her appearance is very ordinary, without makeup. There wasn't much blood on his face. It looked lifeless in the moonlight and kerosene headlights.
It is worth mentioning that she is holding a black cat in her arms. Like a naughty and arrogant naughty man, he turned over and showed his paws towards his master, and bared his teeth at the painter, as if he was grinning ferociously.
"Is this...the owner of this station?" Xueming was surprised by this ordinary woman.
Because Xiao Qi had repeatedly complained before that the BOSS here was very artificial, and the series of welcome arrangements gave off a complicated and maddening sense of injustice.
"Yes." Xiao Qi stuffed the thick note no bigger than a palm into Mr. Xueming's pocket, "Mr. Xueming, it's time for you to get in the car."
Standing next to the boarding gate, they heard railway workers banging on the rails and checking the pipes and wheel hubs.
The administrator's loud whistle came from the distance.
All this is like a dream to Xueming——
——From an ordinary person to a traveler in the underground world, he is about to embark on an unknown journey.
He had just taken a step towards the iron mesh steps at the boarding gate. He asked Xiaoqi to pull it off again.
"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" Xiao Qi shouted.
He looked at Xiao Qi in confusion: "What's wrong? Is there anything else you want to give me? It's best to explain it clearly at once - you said you are a newcomer, and this matter is related to my sister's life. Brother Qi... I..."
"Yes, I'm right about you." Xiao Qi was a little flustered, and she didn't know why. She held a handkerchief in her hand and said, "Come here, there are some things that I can't say in front of these staff members."
Xueming leaned forward and put his ear to Brother Qi's mouth.
"What I'm going to say is just my guess, you don't need to take it too seriously."
Xiao Qi whispered:
"The Mark of Wika is a gift from this underworld to us extraordinary beings...
It's so terrifying, yet so fascinating -
——The crazy butterfly can kill people, but the panacea can save lives.
——There is no pie in the sky. BOSS never engages in loss-making business. She arranges the journey for the passengers, and the passengers gain treasures when they finish the journey. All of this is probably reciprocal.
——Mr. Xueming, you have to be careful, as I said to you at the beginning. You and I have an equal employment relationship. I don't want to meet my first guest only once. "
Immediately afterwards, Jiang Xueming had another lipstick mark on his face.
Opposite to the last position, left and right are equal.
Xiaoqi wiped it clean again.
"I hope you can return safely."
This scene moved Xueming a little inside.
To be honest, Brother Qi seems to be able to handle it.
Not to mention the difference between men and women, this is the first person he has met who cares about him so much after leaving his hometown.
But after he got in the car, he heard Seventh Brother screaming and laughing strangely from a distance, and saw her jumping and jumping for joy as she ran towards the aisle of the guest room.
Along the way, she waved her little fists, as if she were the champion of a boxing match, crumpled Mr. Xueming's old clothes into a ball, and shot a three-point jumper into the dirty clothes basket.
"YAHOOOOOOOOOO! I've been kissed again! You've earned it!~"
This scene made Mr. Xueming's expression become strange. The friendship boat that had just been brewing in his heart had not drifted very far in the boundless sea of life, but it fell into a strange whirlpool. He didn't know what expression to make.
