All living beings in hell

Chapter 78 A Journey to Philadelphia
The night was about to pass, and on the eve of dawn, the drunken young men and women disappeared.With the sound of expectoration, the sanitation workers dragged their stainless steel tricycles and started their day's work.All the restlessness belonging to the night quieted down at this moment, and along with the wet water vapor, the density of the air increased.

I'm still pacing down the street, and a lot has happened lately, and it seems like I've been pushed to run.This rare breathing time is like the gap between the last second and the next second.I walked in a blank space, reviewing what happened in the past few days, and thinking about what will happen next.

However, the blank state is always short. When I was still immersed in thinking, there was a sudden strong suction behind me.The suction appeared without warning, and my feet lifted off the ground.

"The writer is in a good mood. At this moment, I still have time to walk on the street."

A familiar voice came, and I didn't need to turn my head to know that it was Al Lan.

As soon as I turned around, the wind speed suddenly increased, my whole body lost balance, and I flew towards Al Lan.Behind Al Lan is a huge space tunnel, and the hurricane inside is swirling.Jade bracelets cannot be used in the human world. In a hurry, I grabbed a telephone pole by the street and hugged it tightly to stabilize my body.

"Writing, writing, I really don't know what you are hesitating about. Whether you want it or not, what should happen will happen anyway. One day later, one day earlier, it doesn't really make any difference."

"Where are you taking me?"

"United States, Philadelphia. If you jump directly from here, you will save some effort."

"Why do you help me find Tianyuan Snake to make beads?"

"As I said, our interests are the same, and helping me is helping myself."

"My interests... I don't even know what kind of interests I want."

"It's time to think about it and write. Once the war starts, whether it is a god or a man, it has to consider its own interests."

"I don't understand……"

The wind was getting louder and louder, and I couldn't hold the pole anymore.

"Let go of your writing, what's going to happen is going to happen. Three hours from now, we'll be in some run-down hotel in Philadelphia, USA. That's what was meant to happen."

The wind was so strong that I couldn't breathe.If it is as Al Lan said, what should happen will happen... Does Murphy's Law... Does Murphy's Law also work in the world of ghosts...

"Hey, you are very stubborn when writing the pen."

While thinking, Allan's big hands covered with suction cups tore me off the pole.He threw me in the direction of the space tunnel like a softball.I rolled a few times in the air, and before I could react, I fell into the tunnel.

When I opened my eyes, I was not in a hotel lobby, but next to a cheese and beef sandwich shop.A young man of Asian appearance with dyed blue hair is buying a sandwich (Steak&Cheese).

“I would love to have the one with mushroom and green peppers please. Oh yes, pepper is the best.)”

The voice was so familiar, even though his appearance had completely changed, I still recognized at a glance that this blue-haired young man was Al Lan.

"Aren't we going to that hotel..." I rubbed my temples, no matter how many times I jump in space, it still makes my head a little swollen.

"Here you go! (Here you go!)" The boss enthusiastically handed the sandwich to Al Lan, and Al Lan stared at the sandwich almost with love in his eyes.

"Thank you boss! (Thank you Boss!)"

As soon as Alan got the steaming hot sandwich, he took a big bite and let out a sound of great enjoyment in his throat.

“Yes, this is exactly what I was looking for… Sooooo delicious . (Yes this is exactly what I was looking for… Sooooo delicious .)”

"Allan...we're not going to..."

Allan ignored me, and after chatting with the boss for a few words, he turned and walked onto the streets of Philadelphia.

It was dusk in Philadelphia at this time, and the smell of car exhaust mixed with roast beef and cheese spread in the air, and the homeless people on the street were lying on the ground and no one cared about them.The street lights suddenly turned on, and jazz music came from the bars on the street.

“Welcome to Philadelphia! (Welcome to Philadelphia!)”

"Oh thanks, I've been here before."

"While alive or after death?"

"Did you do it on purpose?"

Alran's cheeks were stuffed with sandwiches, and he laughed and chewed.

"You know I want to buy you one too, but souls can't eat food from the world."

"I know," I looked Al Lan up and down, "what's the matter with your skin, can humans see you?"

"Of course they can see me! It's the same as human beings, no difference! But they probably think I'm crazy now, and I'm talking to air. That's right, air, I'm talking about you."

"Nobody has time to care if you're crazy."

"Please, this isn't New York."

"Okay, okay, aren't we going to the hotel, what's going on now?"

Allan finished his sandwich, sucking on his fingers with relish, one by one, licking them clean.

"The cheese beef sandwich in Philadelphia is the best in the world!"

"Please answer my question first..."

"Don't we have three hours? Three hours is enough to buy a sandwich. You won't even let people eat, you are so cruel, my lord."

"...Then your skin."

"It's very easy to use! The heart pulse is pounding, the strength of the muscles is just right, the sense of taste and smell is completely normal, and the digestion of the stomach is excellent!"

"What I want to ask is...how did you get this skin?"

Arlan looked at me and grinned.Although it is now a human face, this smile is still too exaggerated on a human face, I can almost see his back molars.

"We'll talk about it when we get to the hotel."

I had no sense of direction when I was alive. After four years of college, I still went to the wrong classroom.After losing his body, it is more convenient to jump in space, and he completely gave up the matter of recognizing the way.

I have also been to Philadelphia two or three times, but now that I come to Philadelphia again, I still don’t know where I am.There are only "Oh, this street looks familiar," "I really want to eat at that restaurant", such vague references.

Alan strode ahead, and I followed quietly behind.It is indeed very quiet, because no matter how loudly I walk, no human being will notice me.I don't even have to dodge people on the street, I just stride right through them.Don't care about the traffic lights, cars drove past me unscathed.

For the world, I am air, I do not exist.

After turning a few corners, we came to an alley.The alley was wet, as if it had just been splashed with water.

"This is it." Al Lan said, "There are security guards at the front door. It would be more convenient if I was in the previous form. As a human being, I still have to worry about it."

"Then why don't you use the previous form?"

"Because I want a sandwich."

"..."

"Haha, just kidding. Because only the human body can move objects in this latitude, your spirit will go straight through those objects. It may take a lot of effort to move things today."

Alan said, walking to an iron door with chains.He looked around and pulled out a huge pair of pliers from his belt.

"It may take some time, you don't have to wait for me, you go in first."

"Where will I see you later?"

"Places in pictures, if you can't get lost."

"I try not to get lost."

The iron door is rusty and not thick.I walked through the iron gate, behind which it was dark.My spirit body has very good eyesight at night, even if there is no light, everything in front of me is exposed to daylight.This is something that I did not have before I was alive, and it is also a new discovery.

Behind the iron door is a kitchen. Although the kitchen is messy, it has been cleaned, and there is a layer of dust on it.After leaving the kitchen, there is a long corridor. The corridor is very long, and it is hard to see where it leads.I floated forward, as if I could see the waiters in suits coming in and out with delicious dishes.

At this time, there was the sound of a piano coming from the end of the corridor - it was Chopin's No. [-] Nocturne.The familiar music made the air around me start to flow like water, and I moved faster, drifting away in search of the sound of the piano.

Turn right at the end and there is a big restaurant.Although there was no light, I seemed to see a spotlight on the piano in the middle of the restaurant.Beside the piano, a girl in a blue dress is playing.Her body is translucent, appearing soft and easy under the spotlight.

I didn't go up to talk to me, just sat in the corner and listened silently.This nocturne is sad, but also young.There are also love words between the notes, and I don't know who I am telling them to.

Halfway through the music, it stopped abruptly.

"I only learned this, and I don't know the rest." The girl in the dress looked in my direction, she knew I was here.

"Thank you for playing, it's very beautiful." I whispered, the voice was so small that she couldn't hear it.

"I hope he can hear it." The girl said, looking in the direction of the invisible spotlight, "Tell me, can he hear it?"

I looked at the girl for a while, but there was no answer.

The girl didn't speak either, she put her hands on the keys again, and started playing again.

I left my seat and walked out the side door of the restaurant, trying to find my way to the lobby.At this time, a child's voice came from under me.I looked down and saw a brown kid grinning and giggling at me.

"Kid, what are you doing?"

The child tugged at my official uniform and fiddled with my sleeves: "I've never seen a ghost like you! You're not a local!"

"Yes boy, I'm not the ghost of this country."

"Then what are you doing in Philadelphia?"

"Some business to do."

The child ran around me twice, and I saw deep handprints on his neck, like the handprints of being strangled.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"If you help me, what do I need to do in exchange?" I asked.

The child giggled again: "I want you to help me kill someone."

"Then I'd better do it myself, I can't do this exchange."

"Then what can you do?"

I took out a bamboo pen from my sleeve and showed it to the child: "I am a civil official who writes, and I only know how to write."

The child looked at the pen and thought: "Writing, writing...does the name count as writing?"

"The name, it can be regarded as."

"Then let me do you a favor, give me a name, okay?"

"You don't have a name?"

"I hate my name, I'm named after my father. I hate my father."

"What was your original name?"

"Zach."

"Well Zach, I'm not very good at taking English names."

"Then where are you from?" the child asked.

"Zach, I can't help you with this, I'd better go find it myself."

I continued to float forward, and Zach was still shouting behind me: "Hey! Where are you going! I will take you there!"

I didn't answer again.For some reason, ever since I met this child, I had a faint feeling of bad premonition.This premonition is related to this weird hotel.The girl who plays the piano, the kid who hates her name, is just the tip of the iceberg.Something must have happened here, something must have happened.

Suddenly a beam of bright light came, and I squinted my eyes.

"Have you really lost your way! You bastard, you really can't help it!"

Alan's voice came from the light, and I slightly opened my eyes.

"I just heard someone playing the piano..."

"Miss Randall's Chopin? She's been playing the first half of the First Nocturne for half a century."

"There's also a brown kid named Zack..."

"Zach, he asked you to name him."

"Yes, he asked for that."

"Looks like you didn't follow through."

"What will happen if you follow suit?"

"The name itself has the meaning of binding, let alone helping others to name."

"What ever happened in this hotel?"

Allan laughed out his back molars again, and he took out a pendant from the neckline.This pendant is in the shape of a sphere, with black and red patterns, upon closer inspection, the patterns are actually flowing.The red and black patterns are like two snakes facing each other, and the slender bodies are rubbing and caressing each other.

"This is the Tianyuan snake-made beads. It is rumored that Nuwa left a total of 68 Tianyuan snake-made beads scattered in the world. Now I know that there are only six of them. This is one of them, and the other one is in the Liang's hand. The remaining four have owners, and we came here today to look for this bead."

"How do you know that this bead must be in this hotel?"

"Because the owner of this hotel is an old friend of mine."

"Is your old friend the owner of one of the beads?"

"No, my old friend is not, the old friend's enemy is the owner of the beads."

"Enemy? The enemy is also in this hotel?"

At this time, the sound of the piano came again.Miss Randall stopped playing Chopin's nocturne, and the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata resounded throughout the hotel.

Al Lan put the Tianyuan Snake Pearl back into his clothes, twisted his neck, and made a clicking sound.

"The game is about to begin, write."

"Ah, what?"

I was still standing there, when Al Lan suddenly threw out the large vise, shouted "Hey!", and rushed to the depths of the corridor.

(End of this chapter)