Secrets of the Secondhand Shop - Chapter 2

“Hey, Wu Qi, something happened?”

That familiar voice came through the line—calm, casual, like he’d been expecting this.

Looks like this guy had already guessed I’d run into trouble eventually.

“Yeah, something weird happened. I think you’re the only one who can help…”
I was already irritated, but I needed his help, so I had to suck it up.

“Alright. Let’s meet at eleven tonight. I’ll send you the address in a bit. Got something to take care of right now, talk later.”

Before I could even explain what happened, the line went dead. All I was left with was a growing frustration and nowhere to vent it. I lit a cigarette. Then another. By the fourth one, my phone buzzed with a text.

“Baisha Road Bus Stop.”

I typed the address into the search bar and hit enter. The map zoomed out automatically—if it didn’t, it wouldn’t have been able to show both the starting and ending points. My heart sank with the shrinking map. This so-called Baisha Road bus stop was fifty kilometers away from my place.

We’re two grown men meeting up—not sneaking around with some mistress—why the hell are we going all the way to the outskirts of town in the middle of the night?

Tried calling him again. Busy. Judging from his tone earlier, he didn’t seem too worried.
Maybe this whole thing isn’t as serious as I thought.
Since I was already at the shop, I figured I’d just open up and kill some time with work.

At ten-thirty that night, I arrived at Baisha Road. This area was definitely suburban—pitch black, no trace of city life. I could even hear the constant chirping of insects. It made the dark night feel even quieter. There were a few university campuses nearby, so I saw a couple of students returning late, probably from internships in the city. Their young, naive faces reminded me of how full of ambition I was back in the day… and yet here I was, unable to find a proper job, doing this shady business to make a living.

I was busy sighing about my life when a hand suddenly landed on my shoulder.

I instinctively grabbed it, but before I could apply any force, it was flipped back on me. Pain shot through my arm, and I let out a yelp.

“Wu Qi, it’s me.”

Under the streetlight, a pale face appeared before me. I’d never seen a guy this pale in my life.

“I’m serious, Bai Yue—can’t you make a normal entrance for once?”

Bai Yue ignored me. He studied my face closely, eyebrows furrowing. That expression of his made my skin crawl, so I quickly explained everything to him from the beginning.

I pulled out the Cartier watch from my pocket and asked him to check if the problem lay with it.

The moment Bai Yue took the watch, his face turned even more grim. He clicked his tongue and looked up at me.
“How long have you had this watch?”

“Six days.”

He took a deep breath, narrowed his eyes at me, and said,
“Heh… You really waited long enough to tell me.”

“Seriously? I thought this was kind of urgent.”

Bai Yue looked exasperated.
“Yeah. A little later, and you wouldn’t be able to tell me at all.”

“Why not?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he pointed at the ground.
“Wait here. In a bit, an empty bus will come. We’re getting on it.”

“So… I really ran into that kind of thing?” I asked hesitantly.

“Yeah. And it’s not a friendly one.” He answered bluntly. Then he pulled a red thread out of his pocket—one end tied to his right hand, the other to mine.

He glanced at my expression and said,
“Don’t overthink it. It’s to keep you alive.”

Whatever this guy’s up to, it’s not normal.
I wanted to ask what he was planning, but he just brushed it off as a trade secret. Still, his weird, ritual-like behavior somehow reassured me.
Maybe only something this bizarre can deal with a problem this bizarre. Fight fire with fire, I guess.

We waited for almost an hour before an empty bus slowly rolled up. I glanced at my watch—11:58. Two more minutes, and I’d fall asleep again.

Late at night, two grown men boarding a bus with a red string connecting them—no wonder the driver shot us a wary look. Bai Yue and I sat one in front of the other—I took the front seat, and he sat behind me.

As soon as I sat down, he leaned in and whispered,
“Listen closely. In thirty seconds, you’ll fall asleep. Remember everything you see and hear. Try to negotiate with it. Best case, make it leave on its own. If you feel the red thread on your right hand getting pulled, grab it and follow it—run as fast as you can and don’t look back.”

Wait, this guy wants me to face it directly?
I was just about to ask what he meant when suddenly—it was like someone flipped off the lights. The whole world went dark. I knew it was time—I’d fallen asleep again.
Only this time, I was fully aware.

Before this, I was a diehard atheist. Even after this, I still don’t believe in gods. But ever since that night, I’ve learned to respect the supernatural.

There are some things in this world you can’t explain. Just because you don’t believe in them doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

In the secondhand business, you hear a lot of strange stories. So, when this happened, I had a rough idea of what I was dealing with. While I was waiting for Bai Yue, I thought I’d mentally prepared myself.

But when I “woke up” in the dream, I still got scared out of my mind.

I opened my eyes to darkness. I was tied to a steel chair.
I’m still asleep. I can feel it—this isn’t real.

Technically, it wasn’t pitch black. A single bulb hung overhead, casting a harsh light that was quickly swallowed by the surrounding shadows. Beyond that small circle of light was nothing but thick, impenetrable black.

I’ve been a horror movie buff since I was a kid. I’ve seen every kind of ghost there is. I’d imagined a hundred ways I might meet a ghost tonight and came up with a hundred and one escape plans.

But reality turned out way worse than I expected.

Right off the bat, this ghost showed its nasty side—going straight for bondage.

No buildup. The final boss just appeared out of nowhere.

It wasn’t in white clothes. No long hair. It was a man in a plaid shirt—like the kind you’d see on any random tech guy in Zhongguancun. Totally ordinary. Completely forgettable. Drop him in a crowd and he’d disappear in an instant.

“Hey, buddy… are you the main guy here?” I asked.

But reality doesn’t follow your script.

Before I could get confirmation and try to talk it down, the plaid-shirt guy suddenly rolled out a cart from somewhere. A white cloth was draped over it, and on top were various pairs of pliers in all sizes.

Each one had a sharp, gleaming edge.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

I thrashed around, trying to break free—but it was no use.

Everything happened so fast. Like someone hit fast-forward on a movie. The guy in the plaid shirt leaned close to my face, already holding a medium-sized iron plier in his hand.

No warning. No hesitation. He rammed the pliers into my right ear.

People say you can’t feel pain in dreams.
Bullshit.

The moment that plier dug in with a sickening squelch, the pain tore through my skull from right to left. I let out a scream unlike anything I’d ever made before. The agony was physical—and mental.

This guy was seriously messed up.

One strike was all it took to completely break me. Eyes wide, I screamed until my throat bled. Bl00d gushed from my shoulder, my throat, even my eyes. My mental defenses shattered in an instant.

Then came another sickening sound as he pulled the plier out of my ear. Metal grinding against flesh. And then—silence.

My ear had gone deaf.
The sudden silence made the pain even worse.
I couldn’t hear anything, though I could feel my vocal cords vibrating as I screamed.
Next, he picked up a smaller pair of pliers, turned to my right hand, and without a word, snipped off my thumb.

He was fast. Precise. Efficient. No hesitation.

One after another, my fingers went.
The pain from my ear, head, and hand hit me like a wave.

I cursed him, screamed, thrashed—but he didn’t seem to hear a thing.

“I’ve got nothing against you, you psycho!”

My whole body was shaking from the pain, but my mind was getting clearer.

If I don’t do something, this guy’s gonna cut me up piece by piece…

Fighting back was impossible in this state. I glanced at the cart full of pliers—my only chance was to buy some time.

I kicked hard, throwing myself forward. My body crashed onto the cart, knocking the tools to the floor with a clatter. I hit the ground hard, and in that moment, my left ear suddenly regained hearing.

I thought that would throw him off…

But no—without missing a beat, he stepped over me, pinned me down with his left hand, and raised a new pair of pliers in his right. This time, he drove it straight into my chest.

It felt like my lungs were being shredded. I couldn’t breathe.

Damn it… the power gap is way too big…

My vision blurred. That twisted face came closer, cold breath brushing against my skin.

“Where is she? Where is she?”

I heard the question over and over.
He’s asking about the woman who owned the watch…

“You… You gotta let me go if you want me to find her…”
I struggled to get the words out.

It worked. The plaid-shirt guy froze.

“I mean… come on, man, if you’re looking for her, just say so… why be so violent…”
I coughed hard, bl00d spilling from my mouth.

He crouched beside me, face inches from mine—pale, stiff. A raspy voice whispered:

“No time. No time left.”

What the hell does that mean?

Before I could ask, I felt something tug at my right hand.

I looked down—it was the red string Bai Yue had tied on me.
It stretched into the distance, disappearing into the darkness. Something on the other end was pulling me toward it.

I remembered what Bai Yue said—if the string starts pulling, grab it and run.

But I was still tied up. I couldn’t even move…

Snap.

Before I could react, a sharp pair of pliers flashed before my eyes. The red string on my hand was snipped in half. One end stayed tied to my wrist. The other, still pulling, vanished into the darkness.

My heart sank.

Now I couldn’t go back.