imaginary field

13

There is a peculiar smell in the secret passage that has been dusty for a long time. Evan once smelled it in the basement of a certain house at home, and it was accompanied by a smell of human beings living in the past.

With the phone in his hand, he turned off the flashlight mode, "It's still 25% of the battery." After failing to find a charger, they couldn't waste any more.

Chris reaches out.

Evan handed him the phone and started lighting with his own, which is fair enough since they're not friends or even a partnership.

In order to prevent getting lost in the secret passage, Evan took Chris's arm, but found that his walking movements were much smoother, as if his balance system had been restored.

"I feel better." Noticing Evan's gaze, Chris explained, and he pointed to his ear, "It's the same here, the pain has eased a lot."

Evan got closer. He remembered that when he met Chris, the other party was already injured. "Where's the voice?"

Chris shook his head, "It's clear."

He looked at the wound on Evan's head, "Your wound is almost healed."

It was only then that Evan noticed that the wound on his forehead could no longer interfere with his concentration. He reached out and touched it, and found that the blood had completely solidified, and the previous wound, although still painful, was healed many.

"Can our wounds heal quickly?" Chris said to himself, he glanced at Evan beside him, and then turned his eyes away.

Evan didn't seem to notice Chris' scrutiny. He used his mobile phone to illuminate for a while, and then squatted at the entrance of the cave, breathing carefully the air coming from the secret passage.

"It doesn't have those weird smells..." Evan said veiledly.

Chris walked down the stairs. Just now, he had a vague idea in his head, but this idea was so absurd and ridiculous that he could hardly believe it.

Evan turned off the phone behind Chris, and they fell into darkness again, and then Chris held a pair of slightly cold hands.

"Evan, hold my hand tightly." Chris said while touching the wall beside him, wondering if it was his illusion, he always felt that the wall felt a little wet and sticky.

Like it was just taken out of some liquid.

It also seemed to have been painted over by some creature with its tongue.

"Chris, walk slowly." Evan said behind him, perhaps because of the darkness, Chris felt that the other party seemed to be by his side.

They groped slowly and walked to the depths of the secret passage. Because they were worried about attracting the attention of other creatures (maybe there) in the secret passage, they never talked again.

Chris felt that he was constantly going down, and he felt like he had come to the mine—his good brother's father, who was a miner, once described the process of mining those rare gems to them.

It was long periods of loneliness and boredom.

Even in the eternal light, there is no difference from being in the night. It was not until he came to the surface that he felt alive again.

And Chris feels this way again now, he feels that he is spiraling downward, it seems that he has come to a deep place, but it seems to be an illusion brought to him by the darkness.

He pulled Evan behind him. In fact, a few seconds ago, he felt that something was wrong. He felt that the touch in his palm was getting harder and harder, that palm was getting longer and longer, and even the weight of the other party was getting heavier. lighter.

He thought of his mistake, he suddenly held Evan's hand after the lights went out, and he thought it was at that time that he and Evan separated.

His pace slowed down, but he didn't expect that "Evan" behind him actually found out...

"Chris, are we here yet?" said Evan behind him. His voice sounded similar to Evan's at first glance, but it sounded a little different when he heard it carefully—there was no tone or emotional blessing, as if it was edited from an audio words.

"No..." Chris said, "It should be a long time."

"Are you tired?" the "Evan" asked again.

"No." Chris said.

The other party was silent. He seemed to be unable to use this method of communication well and was trying to adapt.

Chris continued to walk forward, he didn't know how long it would take for him to reach the end, but he felt that the "people" behind him seemed to be waiting for something...

When the darkness came again, Evan realized that it was not Chris's hand that he was holding, because Carlton screamed in his head the moment he held it.

Said he was a liar, a thief, a disgusting pervert.

He actually pretended to be Chris and tried to hold his hand.

Evan didn't have such a violent reaction as Carlton. He thought that Chris must have encountered the same situation. He heard Chris in front of him say, "Evan, I smell something."

— That's not Chris!

Carlton screamed again in his head.

Of course, Evan also noticed this. He remembered Chris's palm. It wasn't rough, but it wasn't detailed either. There were some tiny scars on his fingers, and there were also some on his wrists.

It looks like the marks left after grabbing something like an iron fence.

And now the hand he held was smooth, very smooth, like a plastic mannequin in a mall.

He figured Chris was in trouble too.

"What's that smell?" Evan asked cooperatively.

"...the smell of decay."

Very boring answer, Evan thought, he stood still, waiting for the next move of "Chris" in front of him.

"Evan, turn on your phone." That Chris said suddenly, "I feel like I stepped on something..."

"Chris, our cell phone is running out of battery, I don't think this is a good idea." Evan touched the cell phone in his pocket, not understanding the other party's intention to bring this up suddenly.

"I think we can get over it."

"What do you think of my suggestion, Chris."

Chris in front of him didn't respond, but Carlton in his mind kept chattering, accusing the fake of his nausea.

"Okay." Chris said in front of him. He tried his best to imitate human speech and created some emotions, but because the imitation was not in place, it seemed weird instead.

"I just think we should see clearly." That Chris continued.

"It may not be a good thing to see too clearly." Evan said slowly, he held the dummy-like hand, and his heart was very calm-of course, it would be nice if Carlton could be quieter.

[Do you want to come out? ] Evan asked Carlton in his head.

[No, counterfeit goods make me sick. said Carlton in his head.

Evan shrugged in his heart, he slowly followed the footsteps of the imposter in front, then stretched out his hand, trying to touch the wall, but found that he couldn't touch it.

He remembered that before the lights went out, he narrowly walked to the side, which was a dirty-looking wall.

Chris touched the wall and continued to move forward. He didn't know if it was his illusion. He always felt that the wall he touched was getting stickier and damper, and he even had the illusion of swallowing his hand in it.

Occasionally, some soft bumps can be felt, accompanied by a foul smell.

He suppressed his nausea and didn't withdraw his hand. He always felt as if he had come into the guts of some animal. The feeling just now reminded him of an offal disposal truck that suddenly overturned in their block.

The fresh internal organs of animals just slaughtered in the slaughterhouse, all the things you can think of, flowed out of the closed carriages, and the whole street was full of things like intestines and hearts.

Chris didn't see it clearly, the smell could be smelled even three streets away.

Until a week later, when Chris passed that street, he could still smell the strong smell that seemed to have soaked into the asphalt road. It was the smell of blood, the stench of internal organs, and a faint smell of corruption and excrement. As long as you smell it once, you can never forget it.

But now, he felt that the wall he was touching exuded such a smell, and the sticky liquid even made bad associations in his head.

"Chris." He heard the monster behind him calling his name, "I smell something strange."

"Yeah, it stinks," Chris said perfunctorily.

"Turn on your phone," said the impostor, "I think there's something wrong with the walls."

"No." Chris refused, "my phone is almost out of battery." He subconsciously refused the request from the monster, and just as he finished speaking

In an instant, he felt his legs were entangled by something.

"What happened?" Chris heard the anxious voice of the monster, but his acting skills were bad enough that Chris could almost feel the monster's undisguised pride.

"Nothing." Chris sneered.

The monster didn't speak, he just squatted down and touched Chris's entangled leg, "You're entangled!" He said the established lines with an exaggerated tone, as if performing a lame one-man show.

His shriveled palm slowly moved up Chris's sweatpants. If it wasn't for the wrong timing, Chris would have liked to tell the monster that its actions constituted sexual harassment.

"I have to see what it is." The monster said to himself.

Chris closed his eyes. He found that the monster had been guiding him to turn on the phone, or rather, guiding him to turn on the light. He thought it should be some kind of key.

Finally, the monster's hand touched the cell phone in Chris's pocket, and it pressed a keyboard at random—yes, the current cell phone operation is so stupid, even the monsters in the underground can use it without reading the manual.

Chris, who closed his eyes, felt a faint light appear in front of him. The other party didn't seem to expect that Chris closed his eyes, and slowly moved his head closer.

"Chris..."

Accompanied by the stench of internal organs, the monster brought its face closer to Chris: "Chris, why did you close your eyes?"

He stretched out his bony fingers, as if he was about to force open Chris' eyes—

"Look at me, Chris."