Chapter 17: The Fierce Ghost Tunnel on the Way to the Imperial Capital

  The next morning, Xiao Yu poured a cup of tea and sat behind the consultation desk, carefully reading the medical records. Zhang Xiaoqing sat at the nurse's station, staring at Xiao Yu in a daze, thinking to herself, "Ordinary, ordinary, no matter how I look at him, he doesn't seem like a man worth millions!"

  Zhang Xiao Ying was lost in thought when a pleasant ringtone interrupted her, she looked up to see Xiao Ye taking out the phone and answering it: "Hello, Cai Ge, have you arrived in Beijing?"

  "What? So soon?"

  "Alright, alright." Xiao Yu quickly hung up the phone and turned to Zhang Xiaojing behind him: "Xiao Zhang, I'll be going out for a couple of days. You're in charge here by yourself."

  "Uh-huh, okay." Zhang Xiao Ying said with a smile.

  Xiao Yu called Fang Yuan and asked for a few days off, Fang Yuan naturally agreed.

  The Deep Sea City train station was still bustling with activity. Kyoto and Deep Sea were both megacities, with trains passing through constantly, basically one every hour or so. Since it wasn't a holiday, Xiao Yu easily bought his ticket, and in half an hour the Harmony Express would depart from Deep Sea to Kyoto.

  After checking the ticket, Xiao Yu boarded the bullet train to Kyoto. Since its opening, the bullet train has won people's recognition with its comfortable environment and super-fast speed. The journey from the deep sea to Kyoto, which used to take a day and a night, now takes only 10 hours.

  On the high-speed train, Xiao Yu found his seat with his ticket. Since he arrived relatively early, there were not many people in the carriage yet. He sat down and dozed off with his eyes closed.

  "A long, mournful sound of a flute suddenly awakened Xiao Yu, who was dozing off. As he opened his eyes, he found that the surrounding area was already filled with people. Next to him sat a young woman with a 7 or 8-year-old boy, wearing a well-tailored black suit and a pair of frameless glasses on her exquisite face, exuding an air of elegance and refinement, with an aura of intellectual beauty emanating from her entire being."

  Across from me sat a young couple, a boy and a girl, whispering to each other in low voices, occasionally giggling and teasing each other, looking like they were in love.

  Xiao Yu was looking around when the little boy who had been hiding behind the young woman's back came out, his eyes scanning the surroundings. When he looked at Xiao Yu, Xiao Yu also looked at him. The two locked eyes. The little boy quickly hid behind the young woman again.

  It was just a fleeting glance! What kind of eyes were they, filled with fear and dread for this world, their gaze dull and lifeless, like a stagnant pool of dead water.

  Looking at this little boy, Xiao Yu's eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and he said to the little boy: "Little friend, hello! What's your name?"

  "Hey kid, what grade are you in now?"

  …………

  No matter how Xiao Yu spoke to him, the little boy just hid behind the young woman and didn't move.

  Looking at the young man talking to her son, Zhou Ruoying wished that her own son would answer: "Uncle, my name is Wang Boyu, I'm 8 years old..." But looking at her son who was hiding behind her, Zhou Ruoying's face showed deep sadness and disappointment.

  "Little brother, stop calling out. My son has severe autism." Looking at the young man who kept trying to talk to her son, but her son was hiding behind her, motionless, Zhou Ruoying said with a disappointed face to Xiao Yu.

  Upon hearing the young woman's words, Xiao Yu furrowed his brow and said: "Autism? I'm a doctor, can't I take his pulse?"

  "It's useless, I've taken him to see so many doctors, both Chinese and Western medicine, he's taken a whole bunch of medicines but there's no effect." Zhou Ruoying shook her head and said, but still took her son's hand and put it in place, this was also one of Zhou Ruoying's habits, whenever she was going to take her son to see a doctor, she would let him see, maybe a miracle would happen and her son would be cured.

  Xiao Yu's fingers lightly touched the little boy's wrist, and after a minute, Xiao Yu let go of his fingers. He looked at the little boy's complexion again, furrowed his brow, and said: "From the pulse, it can be seen that the meridians are blocked, and from the complexion, the eyebrows are gloomy and not scattered. It is undoubtedly autism."

  "At what age did your child start showing symptoms of autism?" Xiao Ye asked after a moment of contemplation.

  "About three years old!" Zhou Ruoying thought for a moment before answering.

  "So you..."

  "Wife, look ahead, it's the 'Fierce Ghost Tunnel'" Just as Xiao Yu was about to speak, he was interrupted by the conversation of the couple in front. Xiao Yu heard them mention "Fierce Ghost Tunnel" and asked: "Excuse me, friends, what is this Fierce Ghost Tunnel?"

  "You're talking about the Ghost Tunnel! Yeah, it's that tunnel up ahead," said the man in the couple, pointing with his chin towards the window.

  A tunnel excavated in the mountain body in the direction they pointed, like a giant monster's mouth, swallowing all vehicles passing by here.

  "The name 'Menggui Tunnel' was given by our classmates. It's said that one year they went on a trip and passed through this tunnel on a stormy night, and with the flash of lightning outside, they saw many headless and footless evil spirits floating in mid-air inside the tunnel, including female ghosts wearing white clothes and old ghosts wearing Qing dynasty official robes, drifting around the train carriage. From then on, our classmates never took the high-speed train through here again. They even gave this place a name - 'Menggui Tunnel'." The man said while gesturing with his hands.

  "Aren't you afraid?" Xiao Yu asked curiously, looking at the two of them with flying eyebrows and a colorful expression.

  "What's there to be afraid of? There are no ghosts, it's all just a scam. We often come and go from here and have never encountered anything!" the man said with disdain.

  The high-speed train was getting closer and closer to the tunnel, when suddenly, "Mom, that uncle is always scaring me!" The little boy who had been hiding behind the young woman's back somehow poked his head out and stared straight at the luggage rack on the left upper side.

  Upon hearing what the little boy said, Xiao Yu and the couple turned to look at the luggage rack, but it was empty with nothing on it.

  "Xiao Yu, don't tell lies! Mom has told you how many times already!" Hearing the little boy say this, his mother immediately said to him.

  "Oh!" The little boy's eyes, which had initially sparkled with a hint of brightness, quickly dimmed and he hid behind his mother again.