"The woman, with her head lowered, was smacking her lips, not sure what she was eating."
"The child, wrapped in swaddling, did not make a sound."
"In the pitch darkness, my buddy couldn't see clearly and felt really uneasy, not daring to speak up."
"When they finally reached the park gate, the woman handed over a large bill. My buddy was just about to give her change when he turned around, and the woman was gone!"
The taxi driver spoke vividly.
"Gone?" Lu Fei deliberately widened his eyes, "Did she give fake money and take the chance to escape without paying?"
"No, it wasn't like that! My buddy didn't even hear the car door open. In the blink of an eye, the woman and the child were nowhere to be seen, not even at the park gate," the driver said with a serious face.
"My buddy was terrified and quickly drove off!"
"After he got home, he ran a high fever. The next day, he noticed that the bill the woman gave him was stained with blood. Later, he found out that a woman had committed suicide by jumping from a building in that hospital because her child had gone missing in Xishan Park."
"He realized that it must have been the woman he picked up the night before, and the child she was holding definitely wasn't real."
"The child went missing?" Lu Fei and Jia Banxian exchanged glances.
Jia Banxian hurriedly asked, "When did this happen?"
"It's been two or three years. Ever since my buddy took that blood-stained bill, he's had nothing but bad luck—either getting into car accidents or having constant health issues."
"Later, he went to a temple and sought help from a senior monk to get rid of the bad luck, and things started to improve."
"Since then, no matter how little he earns during the day, he won't drive at night anymore."
Two or three years ago?
Jia Banxian was a bit disappointed. After such a long time, it probably had nothing to do with the little parrot.
After the driver finished speaking, he turned his head to look at Lu Fei and Jia Banxian, his eyes full of suspicion.
"What are you two doing going to West Mountain Park in the middle of the night? Aren't you afraid?"
"We're also looking for a child..." Lu Fei replied with a smile.
Squeak——
The driver slammed on the brakes, his face pale with fear.
"You...are also looking for a child?"
"A friend's child got lost around there, we're going over to help look for them." Lu Fei made up an excuse, otherwise, the car wouldn't be able to get to Xishan Park.
"If you're going to look, then go. Aren't you scared doing this at night?"
"Brother, if it were your child who was lost, would you wait until daytime to start searching?"
"That's true." The driver sighed with relief and continued driving. "But speaking of which, that place at Xishan Park is really eerie. Children often go missing there."
"How so?" Lu Fei became interested again.
Taxis run all over the city, so they naturally know a lot of things.
"Over the past three or four years, five or six children have gone missing. Each time, it happened not long after the Qingming Festival. They tried every method, but the children couldn't be found, dead or alive."
"In the end, the government had no choice but to seal off the park, not allowing anyone to enter."
The driver kept shaking his head.
If everything he said is true, and the lost time is so regular, it can't be a coincidence!
"The Qingming Festival has already passed this year, have any children gone missing?" Lu Fei quickly asked.
"Yes! How could there not be, one just went missing not long ago." The driver suddenly seemed to remember something, looking at Lu Fei and his companion with sympathy.
"Could it be your friend's child?"
The timing matches up.
Lu Fei and Jia Banxian took a breath.
"There really might be a chance."
"I think this child is probably in trouble..." The driver sighed, "To still be helping them search at this hour, you guys are really something... but, you should try to convince them to accept their loss sooner rather than later."
"All of them were little boys around six or seven years old, and none have been found."
"Everyone says that the children were taken by that female ghost; her own child disappeared, so she's taking other people's children."
"We have to give it a try." Both Lu Fei and Jia Banxian felt a sense of foreboding.
It has been two months since the Qingming Festival.
The child is likely to face more harm than good.
"But I have one more question," Lu Fei added, "If everyone knows that something is wrong with this park, why do people still bring their children here?"
"The children who went missing later were all passing by the park. The adults didn't notice, and the children disappeared. The police checked the surveillance, and the last place the children were seen was at the park."
"They must have been lured by the female ghost. Otherwise, there's no way a perfectly fine child would go to an empty park on their own. Your friend's child probably got lost this way."
As they spoke, the taxi stopped at a street corner lined with dense, lush trees.
"We're here."
"Turn right inside and you'll see the park entrance. I won't go in with you. I'll round down the fare for you. Could you walk the rest of the way, please?"
"No need to round down, thanks, brother."
Lu Fei paid as agreed, and Jia Banxian got out of the car one after another.
"You two, be extra careful at this late hour!" The driver was kind-hearted and only left after giving them a few words of advice.
Tall sycamore trees lined both sides of the street.
The dense branches interlaced, making the area particularly dark and eerie.
"Something's not right about this place!"
Jia Banxian looked around and narrowed his eyes.
Perhaps because the area was sealed off, the streetlights were not on, making it pitch black everywhere and the air unusually cold.
"Let's check the park first. For so many children to go missing, it can't be a coincidence."
Lu Fei turned on a flashlight, swept it around, and then walked towards the park with Jia Banxian.
The small black dog followed by Lu Fei's side, sniffing along the way and leaving its scent.
After turning the corner, you see the entrance of the park.
Behind the rusty iron gate lies the pitch-black park, silently crouching in the night.
"The feng shui here is terrible!"
Jia Banxian looked around and couldn't help but frown.
To the left was a stretch of abandoned half-built houses, with empty windows and doors like dark caves, forming a cave formation that brings bad luck.
To the right, there was a dirty and smelly small ditch, which, being filthy and disorderly, easily breeds more filth.
Then, Jia Banxian approached the rusty iron gate, took a look inside, and shook his head vigorously.
"Those artificial hills, with the stones lying horizontally, are called corpse-lying stones!"
"All of these are feng shui prohibitions that are detrimental to children! The person who designed this park is simply playing nonsense!"
"When the child had an accident, the park was sealed off, and without any human presence, it further intensified the yin energy here, creating a vicious cycle!"
"Nothing strange would happen here!"
"Yeah, I've never seen a place with such bad feng shui!" Lu Fei nodded.
The gate was ajar, and a light push produced a grating sound that set one's teeth on edge.
"Let's first check out the locust tree where that fat guy found the little parrot."
"Alright."
The two entered the park, looked around, confirmed the direction, and started searching along the way.
Their flashlights swept over the wild grass and fallen leaves.
The little parrot in the cage seemed restless, its small head constantly turning to look around, and its tiny green eyes were trembling slightly.