Chapter 0564: May You Enjoy This Life to the Fullest and Be Barely Kind
”Do you hear their voices? They are telling me about their pain, and even if they are dead, that obsession is still preserved.”
The man’s arms slowly opened, and half of his ever-changing face eventually settled into his own.
He looked at Chen Ge, “I once witnessed such an incident, the girl was standing on the edge of the building, the firefighters patiently discouraged her, but the people watching downstairs were up in arms, they took the girl’s death as a form of fun. I know that’s not a very nice thing to say, but it’s true. They took out their own cell phones to take pictures, urged the other person to jump off, and then after documenting everything, maybe even sent a circle of friends with a few words of sympathy.”
”People like this aren’t an exception, it’s because of their existence that some people who shouldn’t have deserved to die in the first place end up being pushed to the brink of extinction.”
Chen Ge looked at the man on the opposite side of the railroad tracks, he understood the other side, but that didn’t mean he completely agreed with the other side’s words, “My friend, I know that there are a lot of dirty people and things in the world, and they are all around us, but besides them, there are a lot of more beautiful things in the world, and it’s the good and the bad that are intertwined together that make up our lives. I think your teacher has a point, you’re a person who really looks out for his patients, and a good person, but you’re not a qualified operator.”
”You said yourself that you are able to change a person’s ability to absorb love and release it, but have you ever realized that you yourself have been subconsciously changed by the help-seekers, that your world is taken over by all that filth, and that your eyes can only see those ugly and disgusting things now, when in fact the world itself hasn’t changed, it’s always been this way, and the one who has changed is you. ”
The red coat on the other side of the railroad tracks was a good and kind person, and it was the first time Chen Ge had seen such a purely good person become a red coat after death.
He didn’t become a red coat because of extreme hatred and extreme love, or because of grudges and all sorts of negative emotions, it was just because of goodness, an ordinary person wanting to carry all the suicidal people’s painful pasts, this was an impossible thing in Chen Ge’s opinion, but the man in front of him did it.
In a sense, this red coat might have even more potential than Zhang Ya, only that the other party did not know how to utilize it.
The man didn’t expect Chen Ge to refute his point of view, his eyes looked straight at Chen Ge, there was a special emotion churning in his eyes, and he seemed to be a bit agitated as his calmness was broken, “Do you know why I’m telling you this?”
”Why?” Chen Ge didn’t feel that he could convince the other party with just a few words, he just simply felt that this man was having a hard time, whether in life or in death, perhaps he could try another way of living.
”That phone number stored in your cell phone is the number I used to use, and those people who got through to you are the people I failed to intervene for help.” The man’s tone and demeanor as he spoke, became more and more strange, his features slowly distorted, if he had given Chen Ge a feeling similar to that of a living person in the beginning, then now the last trace of humanity in him had disappeared.
”The first few people were a test for you, if you didn’t help them, or laughed recklessly at their deaths, or if you didn’t care about anything, then soon you’ll become a shadow of some sort behind me.”
The man had gone from one extreme to the other, and his kind of thinking was very dangerous.
”Looks like I’m still quite lucky, so am I considered to have passed the test now?” Chen Ge was clear in his heart that the red clothes were not that good to get, before Yan Dainian and Xu Yin, the two ordinary stern ghosts also made him go through a lot of effort, in order to get the red clothes Zhang Ya, he even pressed the happiness of the rest of his life.
If you want to give back, you have to give first, and everything in the black cell phone is an equal exchange.
”Originally, you would have encountered seven helpers, I didn’t expect you to be able to directly determine the location of one of the helpers through some voices and find me, which is something I didn’t even do in the first place.” The man’s expression was still horribly hideous, but his gaze softened a bit, “I even more didn’t expect that you would risk your life to save a stranger you didn’t know, and even without knowing whether the other party was a human or a ghost, you actually dared to rush onto the railroad tracks before the train came. Have you ever thought about it? If you had moved a few seconds slower, then your life would have been gone.”
”Regardless of whether it’s true or not, I’m going to save it because it involves human lives and I can’t gamble on it, even if I know in my own heart that ninety-nine percent of this is a scam, then I’m still willing to be scammed.” Chen Ge’s voice was flat, but it was full of power, making people inexplicably feel comfortable listening to it.
”Then you are really a fool.” The man paused, a hint of complexity in his eyes.
”A fool is a fool, I’ve done a lot more similar foolish things, many people have said so, I’m used to it myself.” The atmosphere eased slightly, Chen Ge tentatively asked, “Now that I’ve passed your test, what do you have for me next?”
He looked at the red coat across the railroad tracks with anticipation, his eyes glowing as he swept over the densely packed black figures behind the man.
Being stared at by Chen Ge like this, the man frowned, “It’s also true that this hasn’t happened before, this number is just a tool I use to quell the grudges of suicides, I’ll use him to screen some of the assholes who mocked the dead and then take them away. The fact that you passed the test simply means that you can continue to live.”
”You used this number to kill people?” Chen Ge’s voice froze, he was genuinely surprised that the number that was once used to save people and was pinned on their last hope had turned into a tool for killing at this time.
The man’s life and death, treating the same number in different ways, caused Chen Ge to feel a hint of regret.
”I know you’ll think it’s strange, in fact, isn’t this exactly what some people want?” A hint of a smile appeared on the man’s hideous face, “After my accident, this number that had saved countless people was said by those lunatics to be a number cursed by the devil. But anyone who had dialed this number would end up becoming unfortunate, meeting with accidents and dying horribly on the streets, they even made me into a horror story. And what I’m doing now is just taking the horror story they made up and turning it into reality.”
There was no thrill of revenge in his voice, just indifference.
Chen Ge understood the man’s thoughts in his heart, he didn’t want to harm anyone, but in the end the one who was harmed was himself, even after death there was still no peace, if the man’s character hadn’t changed this would only make sense.
After thinking for a while, Chen Ge slowly opened his mouth and said, “In fact, I am the same person as you, we are both the kind of fools who defy the odds, we are both the kind of people who think about others wholeheartedly and end up losing themselves.”
The man’s frowning brows stretched as he heard Chen Ge’s words, he was about to say something but was interrupted by Chen Ge.
”But we’re not exactly the same, the path I chose is different from yours, you silently carried everything in your heart until you couldn’t bear it yourself and broke down.”
”In fact, there’s no need for you to be so tired, you can’t change everyone, all you can change is yourself.”
”I’m not telling you to be bad, I’m just letting you understand your own importance.”
Chen Ge took out his own personal experience to convince the other party, “I’ve met many very bad people, in all shapes and sizes, some of them wantonly deprive others of their lives in order to cure their own heart disease, others are willing to destroy everything around them for the sake of some kind of obsession, and there’s also the kind of thing that’s inherently bad to the bone that builds unobtainable love into a wall, and so on and so forth, I’ve seen A lot.”
The tone was smooth and unperturbed, Chen Ge had indeed experienced far too much during this time.
The man sized up Chen Ge and realized that he didn’t look like he was lying, “Having seen so many bad people, why did you risk your life to save a dead man? Did you already see that this was a trap and figured out my intentions ahead of time, so you purposely went about it this way?”
In the man’s eyes, Chen Ge was a very smart person, judging the location of the suicidal person just from some murmurs on the phone, he was now skeptical of Chen Ge, thinking that this could be a bitter trick by Chen Ge.
”I have seen a lot of bad people, but I have not been influenced by them, I have my own way of living, I have my own insistence, no matter what those people say or do, I just need to do one thing well.” Chen Ge stood across from Red Clothes, his strength was not at all on the same level, but the two people’s aura was comparable.
”What is it?” The man himself had been confused, and he asked without much thought.
”Just be yourself.” Chen Ge had an ordinary look, but his smile was sunny, bringing encouragement whenever he could, “Society is cruel, but I’ll keep myself warm, I don’t care about those messy things, I just want to live my life, live it to the fullest, and be naked and kind, that’s enough.”
”Just that?” The man opened his mouth and wanted to say something else, but the train drove by at this time, instantly separating him and Chen Ge.
The ground shook, and amidst the rumbling sound, Chen Ge didn’t hear what the man said afterward.
The train sped towards the distance, the light faded into the horizon, and everything around was once again swallowed by darkness.
In the darkness of the night, Chen Ge and the man in red stood on either side of the tracks, just like when they first met.
Neither of the two spoke again, Chen Ge did not know if his persuasion would be useful, he genuinely wanted to help the man in red, and by the way, he was also preparing for his future trip to the Eastern Suburbs to save more people, he felt that he and the man in red had the exact same goal, one person and one ghost should have joined forces.
”Don’t be so bitter, there’s still a lot of things you haven’t enjoyed in this world. There are so many people standing behind you, they have put their last hope in you, you should live as they have not, with their wishes and obsessions, live as the person they want to be, I think this should be what they would like to see as well.” With his hands in his pockets and the night breeze blowing through his hair, Chen Ge said all that he wanted to say.
Standing in the darkness of the night, no one could see the dense silhouettes behind the man, who froze in place for half a day before walking over from the side of the railroad tracks.
With every step he took, the smell of blood on his body dissipated a little, and when he stopped in front of Chen Ge, his red clothes had already changed to a normal color, and he looked almost exactly like a normal person at this point.
If he didn’t know beforehand, Chen Ge wouldn’t be able to guess that this was actually a special red coat carrying the obsession of countless suicides.
”You shouldn’t trap yourself in that small circle, you’re not alone, you should let them feel happiness and sunshine as well, after all, that’s what they longed for the most when they were alive.” Chen Ge saw the man nodding slightly in agreement with his words, he also revealed a kind smile, “An interesting life is the best spice, why don’t you just follow me for now, I will introduce you to some new friends, so that you can slowly find those happiness and warmth.”
”Follow you?” The man’s tone was a bit surprised, regular people see ghosts and avoid them, but this young man in front of him seems to be not quite the same: “I’m already surprised that you’re not scared by me, no need to force yourself.”
”Not forced.” Chen Ge didn’t expect that even at this time the man was still thinking about himself, but he couldn’t afford to show too much enthusiasm for fear of scaring the other away.
”You’re just too considerate of others, I’ve taken in many homeless ‘friends’, they should welcome you as well.” In a few days Chen Ge was going to go to the eastern suburbs to do a big job, so he definitely wanted to retain the other party, besides the man in red was able to become almost exactly the same as a normal person, this was an awesome ability in Chen Ge’s opinion, the onlookers thought that he was just an ordinary person or an ordinary stern ghost, and was able to turn the tables only to find out that this was in fact an extremely scary red shirt.
No matter how Chen Ge tried to persuade him, the man didn’t reply, he was different from the other redcoats in that he had retained all of his memories from his life, unlike Zhang Ya and Xu Yin, he had his own thoughts.
”I will visit the place where you live, but not now.” The man revealed a rare smile, “Once I fulfill those last wishes that are weighing me down, I’ll do as you said and go back to being good again.”
”The last wishes of all the suicides?” Chen Ge thought of the densely packed swath of silhouettes behind the man, if each silhouette left a last wish to fulfill, it was estimated that it would be years later when the man would meet Chen Ge again.
Chen Ge didn’t want the red clothes he drew out now to wait until years later to come in handy, he thought for a while and spoke, “Can you fulfill so many last wishes by yourself?”
”It is something I promised them, and I will do it no matter what.”
”You misunderstood what I meant.” Chen Ge waved his hand, “I’m saying should I come with you to fulfill their last wishes? This will also be faster, and you don’t want the souls of those suicides to be unable to rest in peace for a long time, right?”
”You help me?” The man was truly moved this time, there had never been a person who would be like Chen Ge.
”Don’t worry, I don’t want anything more, I just want you to understand that even if the world turns its back on you, there will be someone willing to stand with you.” Chen Ge extended his own hand towards the man, “By the way, I haven’t asked your name yet, what should I call you?”
The man was silent for a long time and held Chen Ge’s hand, “My name is Zhang Wenyu.”