Forces Of Temptation

Ch1 - Three People Become Ghosts

No one knew how those 'people' got on.

The bus drove on the highway around the city and didn't stop midway. It always maintained a speed of 80 kilometers per hour. However, the number of people in the bus had indeed increased. Perhaps only Li Yinhang discovered this or perhaps everyone in the vehicle discovered it. It was just that no one dared to say it.

She lowered her entire body, her nose full of the hot, stuffy smell in the enclosed space. The air conditioner in the bus was set at 16 degrees and it was just above her head. The wind was strong and the sound was audible. Her fingers squeezed together tightly as the cold wind and hot sweat slowly flowed down her hair to her neck like a reptile.

...There were indeed more people in the vehicle. This feeling lingered but it was hard to tell where there were more people. Perhaps they were peeping at her from somewhere behind her. Perhaps it was the man sitting two rows in front of her who showed a small patch of stubble. He might silently turn his head 180 degrees and stare in her direction.

***

Imagination was a human gift. Since a week ago, people's talent in this area started to be greatly exercised.

At first, there were only one or two unusual disappearances.

For example, friends went out to play together. Those who left came back with milk tea but there was no one in front of the movie theater.

Another example was a middle-aged chemistry teacher with a big belly teaching a drowsy second-year liberal arts class that was at the bottom of the overall rankings. The students had fallen asleep and only the class leader cared about his reputation. He had the chemistry book open while secretly filling out his language exercise book underneath.

The class leader was startled by a clear falling sound and raised his head to find only the fallen whiteboard marker on the ground. He stood up angrily and criticized the students. "The teacher became angry because of you."

The deterioration of the situation took only one day and night.

A housewife watching a drama with her husband on the sofa found that the tap in the kitchen kept making noise. She was distressed about the water bill. She kept nagging as she walked into the kitchen only to find a stack of foam-filled bowls. Her daughter was gone together with the old slippers that would make noise when she walked.

The housewife walked back to the living room. The living room was quiet. A ball game was showing on the television, a new box of cigarettes had just been opened and the ashtray had been taken out from under the coffee table. Under the warm light, the family portrait of three people hanging in the living room only showed the reflection of the bewildered housewife.

The disappearances quickly escalated to the 'disappearance incident.' On the TV, static color screens repeatedly showed precautions reminding citizens to stop unnecessary outings in the near future. The data showed that staying in a fixed place didn't mean the possibility of a sudden disappearance could be avoided but those who went out and ran around disappeared faster.

The whole world seemed to be experiencing a strange bug that couldn't be fixed. This wasn't a wild guess.

It was because five months ago at 6 p.m. on February 5th, millions of people saw a huge dialog box in the position of the sun with a background of red clouds.