48 Hours a Day

Zhang Heng drove his grandfather’s car and headed back to Bai Qing’s neighborhood.

He found a building on the street where it allowed him to observe her house. He parked his car, turned off the engine, pulled out the key, and walked to a spot out of the CCTV’s range. Now, all he could do was wait.

This was also the most boring and dreary part of the quest. Even if nothing happened, Zhang Heng could not close his eyes to rest or leave the place for the time being. He was, fortunately, well prepared for a situation like this. He leaned over to the back seat and grabbed his tablet. Earlier, he had downloaded a few shows that he had been following and some short movies as well.

Zhang Heng clicked on an old anime, Penguindrum, and continued from the sixth episode. As the flick played on, he would periodically glance at Bai Qing’s house.

From the previous conversation, Zhang Heng knew that Bai Qing’s family lived on the sixth floor. The north window should be Bai Qing’s bedroom, and one on the west had to be the living room. As of now, her house was completely dark.

Bai Qing typically went to bed at 11 o’clock. Since so much happened tonight, she waited until Zhang Heng had gotten home, and the two had chatted on WeChat for about half an hour before they bid each other goodnight.

Zhang Heng seemed to see Bai Qing curling up on the bed, tapping her cellphone in the dark bedroom. The blue light from the screen was shining on her face…

While watching the thirteenth episode of Penguindrum, Zhang Heng realized that his tablet’s battery was almost empty. Hence, he tossed the device back to where it used to be, stretched his back, and loosened his muscles and bones.

So far, nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be going on in Bai Qing’s house. Zhang Heng then looked at his watch. It was 2:55 in the morning, and the street was devoid of people. The whole city was at a standstill, not much different from the dystopian city in the “Silent Hill” game.

As the clock ticked, his eyes were getting drier and drier, and Zhang Heng dripped in two drops of eye drops into his eyes. At 3:20, he saw a stray dog searching the trash can on his right side. Come 3:45, he shifted himself, lowered down his seat, and leaned back.

Initially, he just wanted to take a quick nap, but he did not expect to feel sleepy after closing his eyes. When Zhang Heng opened his eyes again, he found out that he was no longer in the car but was standing in a small town instead.

‘Is this a dream?’

Suddenly, Zhang Heng remembered the dream he had not long ago where those things beside the river surrounded him. This time around, it looked like he had been brought back to the past, and his surroundings seemed familiar as well.

However, Zhang Heng did not remember if he had been to this town, whether in reality or in the game. There was no doubt that this was a coastal town. The strong smell of fish in the air disgusted him, and a long sandy path could be seen under the wave breaker. On top of it were a few shacks and fishes lined up beside them.

Zhang Heng also noticed a white bell tower made of bricks and stones, with a river flowing underneath not far from him. On the other side of the wave breaker, a black line loomed between the waves, reeking with an evil aura.

In fact, the whole town was shadowed by an uncomfortable atmosphere. Although many buildings and houses were being built at the center of the town, most were in a dilapidated state. Their roofs had caved in; their walls, rotting. Abandoned railroad tracks by the street were overgrown by grass on both sides.

Judging by the architecture of the buildings, Zhang Heng figured that he was probably in a western country, circa the late 19th or early 20th century. The presence of evil loomed within the town, or to be more precise, this small town seemed to be under some sort of curse. Even the sky was marred by a suffocating haze.

Since Zhang Heng was gradually losing his emotions, he wasn’t affected by his surroundings. Instead, he had a faint feeling that he was visiting his friend.

This made him feel a little strange.

Zhang Heng walked down the cobblestone path and came to a square. Although there were incandescent lamps nearby, they were not bright enough to illuminate the place. Standing underneath these dim lights was a depressing experience.

On the way, Zhang Heng saw a few dirty fishermen standing on the wave breaker. After that, he did not see anyone else until he came to the square where he saw an old man walking towards a factory.

Zhang Heng greeted him in English, but the other party did not respond.

He did not look back until Zhang Heng put his palm on his shoulder.

The old man had a deformed and awful face. His head was small and flat; his nose collapsed, and his eyes protruded from their sockets. With a neck covered with wrinkles, he was bald, and his skin covered in scabs.

The old man croaked, in a hoarse, sharp, and guttural voice, “Are you… finally here?”

Zhang Heng wanted to ask him what it meant, but the next moment, the weird dream ended abruptly. It seemed as if it only lasted a second.

Then Zhang Heng heard a scream. When he looked up, he saw that Bai Qing’s house’s living room was lit up again. If he wasn’t wrong, Bai Qing was the one screaming right now. Zhang Heng looked at his watch and saw that it was 4:47 in the morning. He could not help but curse himself.

He now had full control over his body and mind, and although he was exhausted from fighting all night, he couldn’t lie down and fall asleep immediately, having not the intention to do so. Therefore, the dream that he had just now was definitely abnormal. He wasn’t sure, however, if the dream had something to do with his real-life or the alien in this game.

He did not have time to check his body, so he rushed out of the car, closed the door, sprinted across the green zone, climbed over the iron fence, and jumped into where Bai Qing lived.

His short nap had apparently disrupted his previous plan to a certain extent.

But since Bai Qing still had time to scream, Zhang Heng knew that she was at least safe for now. Her screams were loud, and many families living upstairs and downstairs had turned on their lights, especially the two families living on the first floor. They were so appalled by the noise that they had rushed out of their houses again. Thus, Zhang Heng took the opportunity to enter the building.

He ran up the steps to the sixth floor.

Initially, he planned to enter Bai Qing’s house through the window, but unexpectedly, the door was open.

After seeing the scene in the house, Zhang Heng could understand why Bai Qing screamed.

The living room looked like a slaughterhouse now.

Bright red blood spattered all over the walls and the floor. And Bai Qing’s mother, whom Zhang Heng saw downstairs earlier, was lying in a pool of blood. Her lower abdomen had been stabbed multiple times by a knife, and her whole stomach had been cut open. She had stopped breathing due to the extremely serious injury; the fear in her eyes, permanently frozen at the moment when she was slaughtered.

In the middle of the living room, her husband, who had lived with her for 20 years, was standing in front of her body, with bloodstains all over his body. And he was holding a fruit knife in his right hand.