〈Crazy, crazy, already crazy. 〉

這篇是Penana某個名為「瘋了，瘋了，都已經瘋了。」的創作挑戰徵文產物，簡單來說就是以瘋狂為主題的短篇。在Matters這邊也放上來，一些較細的徵文條件會在評論處補充

You are in a car, listening to the foreman in the front seat explaining things.

"After we get off the bus, we'll work in pairs. You and you, and you and you..." The foreman paired them up one by one, and then turned his attention to you, "Ah, rookie, you and Ah Cheng, understand. ”

"Understood." You nodded.

The foreman then looked at you, and then returned to the mode of talking to everyone, "Remember, these are extraordinary times. Try to focus on the matter and avoid extraneous matters, you know." Everyone then responded, "Understood."

Soon after, the car stopped. When you arrive at your destination, there are several buildings. As for your work today, it is actually to remove the remains temporarily placed in the building, move them to the transport truck, and then send them to the cremator for cremation. It seems to be a relatively ordinary labor job, but if you wear a full set of equipment to avoid direct contact like now, it is not too easy, and sometimes it is extremely tiring.

After thinking about it, you check again to make sure that your equipment is not missing, and then walk into the building in charge with Brother Acheng, who is in the same group.

Inside the building, the huge halls and rooms are now filled with a large number of corpses, all of which seem to be sealed in bags that look like cloth or plastic. Out of curiosity, you quietly walked towards the nearest body and glanced at the label on the bag.

"XXX, cause of death: slip and fall at home."

Well, a slip and fall at home. It sounds like it's still possible, you've heard that sometimes you have bad luck, especially the elderly, and slip and hit your head, and it's indeed possible. And just as you were thinking about it and preparing to pick up the label of the next body, Brother Cheng, who was in the same group as you, stopped you.

"Oh, noob, don't waste your time, it's all the same. It's not for us to worry about anyway." Brother Cheng directed your attention back to the path of the mission, "Wait a minute, let's start from the one closest to the door. It’s easier to drive all the way in, you understand.”

"Understood." You responded quickly.

"Then let's start taking action. You have to be quick, or you won't be able to finish it and you'll be scolded again."

"OK."

So next, you and Brother Acheng gradually transported the body to the car one by one. After a lot of hard work, you finally finished processing the hall part, leaving only the various rooms. But it was also at this time that Brother Cheng's cell phone rang, and he told you to take a rest first and ask him to answer the phone. So for the next short period of time, you wandered around the room alone.

And you can't help but want to look at the cause of death on the labels of each body.

"XXX, cause of death: chronic illness and world-weariness."

Well, this is quite reasonable.

"XXX, cause of death: failure to pay back the money owed."

Hmm, I feel like there might be some story behind it.

"XXX, cause of death: street fight."

As for this, you don't know what to say. After all, there shouldn't be many people walking around on the street now, so how can we fight like this?

"XXX, cause of death: street fight."

Why is there another "street fight"? Maybe a lot of people in this area died in street fights. But judging from the scale of the fight that killed so many people, it’s amazing that such a big thing hasn’t been reported, right?

"XXX, cause of death: street fight."

Well, it seems that it really matches your imagination. So you read on and found the fourth, fifth and sixth bodies fighting in the streets. And just when you were about to look at the seventh body, a cold voice seemed to come into your mind.

"Hi~"

Who, who's talking?

"Oh~~~~~"

This is not Brother A Cheng's voice. And when you look around the room, you don't see a single living person. Ah, it can't be that it's haunted, right?

Once you realize this, you start to look at the bodies and the bodies behind them, the bodies piled up all over the room and the building. In an instant, a creepy feeling arose spontaneously. If this place is truly haunted, that's the end of it. There are so many corpses here that you won’t be able to eat them all if you catch one, not to mention there may be more than one ghost...

"Oh~~~~~~~~~"

Oh, my God, why is it that voice again? Especially when you are thinking about something, you are suddenly frightened out of your mind and ready to run out of the room. But it was so late and so fast, just when you ran to the door of the room in two steps and one step at a time,

"Ah!" A figure suddenly appeared at the door of the room, scaring you and him so much that you took two steps back.

"What are you doing?" Oh, it's so dangerous, the ghost can still talk and retreat. Hey, that’s not right, this is a human being, not a ghost.

So you raised your head and looked at the person coming:

A well-groomed suit, a microphone in hand, and a camera behind it - this is the media and reporters.

"Hello, we are Tianhua Daily. Can you be interviewed by us?"

"No. We have work to do and it's not convenient for us to be interviewed," you said.

"Really, just give it a try." The reporter said this, and at the same time saw him start to flip the labels on the nearby bodies, and motioned to the photographer behind him to follow him. "Oh, spontaneous death. How could someone die spontaneously?" The reporter muttered to himself after opening the label on the first body.

Uh, should you tell them that this is the cause of death that's written on the label? In such a bad world, there will always be people who want to die on their own; or you can try to make random excuses first and blur the focus? At least that's what public figures do. Yes, but the foreman also said that we should avoid unnecessary complications. If you say something wrong, the more you say it, the more flaws you will find. When the time comes to mess up the whole thing, the boss will be blamed. If something goes wrong in a mission like this, it will be tragic. You don’t want to make mistakes in such a national-level matter, and you don’t want to be hacked in this kind of unit.

So you think about it and decide whether you should intervene to disrupt the situation. At the same time, faced with the aggressiveness of reporters, you can't find a chance to interject, especially because you are afraid that the focus will be on you when you open your mouth. So you pretended to be thinking, and stood aside at a loss, until the reporter seemed to be getting closer and was about to unzip the bag containing the body...

"Hey, what are you doing? The dead man is the most important." You shouted quickly and stepped forward to try to stop him.

But the reporter didn't seem to want to stop. He just wanted to open the zipper and take a look, regardless of your obstruction. So you stepped forward to fight him off, but the reporter was not to be outdone. He pretended to be pulled away to block you, and secretly signaled the photographer to move. In the end, you used all your strength to stop them one against two. Open the body bag. And in the middle of this tug of war, you gradually fall into a disadvantage. Then the reporter cleverly turned around, causing everyone to stumble in an instant. Seeing that you were about to lose your center of gravity and be unable to hold the two of you, the photographer was about to open the body bag when the foreman came in.

"What are you doing? We are doing state business, are you allowed to come in?"

The foreman calmed down the scene as soon as he came in. Following the foreman was Brother A Cheng and more colleagues who were on the mission together. "Come on, take the people away and run them out. All the equipment has been confiscated." The foreman gave the order, and the group of people behind immediately took action. In an instant, the reporters and their belongings disappeared from the building.

Then the air returned to the tranquility it had when there were only corpses. For a short period of time, no sound could be heard. However, the condensation in front of the rain also burst into fireworks like a storm the next moment the sound started.

"What do you do for food?" The foreman grabbed you, isolated you and yelled, "You just let them take pictures or lift them? Did I give any special instructions before departure to avoid unnecessary complications in extraordinary times, but I didn't even listen to them?" Just say yes to me, it’s just a perfunctory thing.”

As the foreman said, he began to scold people, "Today, the media is the source of chaos. If the news leaks, everyone will be left with nothing to eat. By then, our entire group will be dismissed, and the worst thing will be It’s going to be black in the country.”

"Knocking people to the ground is better than your useless behavior." While you were cursing, the foreman suddenly came to you. "Tell me, are you a waste?"

"Report, no." You had to respond.

"I think it's very similar. If you can't even do this kind of thing well, the country is really a waste for raising you." The foreman continued to stare in front of you, "The waste is better than you. At least the waste is not on the blacklist. I want it so much. You have been blacklisted by the party and want to live in the camp? I promise you, if something happens today, I will definitely recommend that your superiors send you to the worst camp. Look at my face, I seem to be able to talk casually. People?"

"Report...report, no." You had no choice but to respond.

"Take it easy. If you make another mistake today, I will definitely ask your superiors to punish you, and blacklist your family and friends. And..." After the foreman said this, he turned to look at Ah Cheng Brother, "Ah Cheng, just let the rookie stay here alone. If you hadn't known about the report, I would have dealt with you and the rookie today."

"Report, my fault." Brother Ah Cheng replied immediately.

"Take it easy. You and the rookie don't want to be in the same group anymore." The foreman said, "I've thought about it, rookie. Do you know who you want to be in the same group with? There are dead people in the car. You are the material to be in the same group with the dead." , understand. Just load the body into the car later and keep an eye on the body. If something goes wrong again, I won’t kill you.”

"Report, understood." You responded quickly.

"Do you understand?" The foreman pretended not to hear, then leaned over and asked again.

"Report, understood." You responded louder.

"You said it this time, don't mess up again." The foreman said, "Okay, the rest of the people will finish the work. After that, rookie, you can go to the hearse. Don't even take care of the body. After answering Each action.

"Yes." Then with everyone's response, the team temporarily disbanded to complete their respective parts. The second half was quite peaceful. After a lot of hard work, you finally finished loading the remains. The colleagues returned to their original cars and escorted the convoy to the crematorium, while you got into one of the cars carrying the body.

The car started. In the endless turbulence, you only feel the cold wind coming from the body cabinet. Although wearing full gear somewhat conserved the temperature, the eerie feeling lingered. But what’s even more troublesome is that you originally thought that was all, but you didn’t expect that when the car was about halfway along, you seemed to vaguely start to hear the sound you heard in the room again.

"Wow~~~"

"Oh~~~~~"

God, if it was haunted at this time, you wouldn't be able to escape.

"Oh~~~~~~~"

Ah, why is it getting louder and louder? Don’t let ghosts come to you to ask for your life.

"Oh~~~~~~~~~"

The ghost's screams are getting louder and louder. However, at this moment, whether you have just been baptized by high pressure or the ghost's screams are loud enough, you suddenly realize that you can locate the source of this sound. So after feeling brave, you finally start looking for the source of the sound, and after a while you find it - it's coming from a body bag.

Oh, it can't be a zombie, you thought as you looked at the body bag that seemed to be moving slightly again. If so, you will have nowhere to escape. And if it's a zombie, will it be your fault again? Ahhhh, forget it. When I think about the horrific consequences of what might go wrong next, the horror of what is in front of me instantly drops by one level. So after settling for a while, you calm down and seize the opportunity to secretly unzip the body bag.

"Wow~~~"

You look at the corpse in front of you. It doesn't look like a zombie or a ghost. Instead, the sound seemed to come from the mouth. Well, it should be normal for corpses to make sounds... right? No, is this person still alive?

You quickly take a closer look, judging from the ups and downs of the "corpse"'s breathing, oh my God, this is a living person. Although he looks old and seriously ill and can hardly move, he is still alive. No wonder he kept making noises.

But what to do next is to remove him from the body cabinet. Only in this way can people live. You thought and calculated quickly, but while you were still judging, the car stopped.

Ah, are we here? If you calculate it, the time is actually about the same. It took a lot of time from hearing the sound to having the courage to find it. This is simple, just get off the car and report to the foreman.

So you got out of the car, and sure enough you had arrived at the crematorium. You quickly ran to the foreman's car and prepared to report to him. However, just as you were running, you seemed to suddenly catch a glimpse of a group of people gathered in front of the crematorium in the corner of your eye, and they were gradually coming over to watch. Ah, it's a higher-level party superior.

Isn't this just for inspection? You thought as you ran to the team car to find the foreman.

"Report to the foreman, I found a living person inside the body."

The foreman glanced at you, then turned to look at the party superiors who were striding over. His expression flashed through many changes in an instant, and then he said, "Take me to see it quickly, and Ah Cheng, hurry up and take people to entertain the superiors. Just say that I was directly escorting the body in the cabinet, so I arrived late with the car."

"Understood." After Ah Cheng said this, he immediately led everyone to the party superiors. And you, the foreman and a few others hurried to where the old gentleman was who was still alive.

"Take him out now?" you asked after arriving at the scene.

"No, the surrounding area is too empty. Any misfortune will definitely be discovered by the superiors. And what if the old gentleman suddenly screams?" the foreman said, and as soon as he finished speaking, he and you stuck out your heads to look in the direction of the superiors. I saw that Ah Cheng seemed to use various techniques but only delayed his superiors a little. The senior executives were quickly inspecting each vehicle and would arrive here in a few minutes.

"It's too late," the foreman said. "We can't let our superiors know that a living person has been brought in. Everyone will be beaten to death by then."

"What should I do?" asked a colleague who came with me. At the same time, the senior management strode straight towards this place.

In a hurry, the foreman quickly lifted up the label of the old man's body bag and read, "Cause of death: street fight." Then he glanced at everyone present, and everyone seemed to understand. Then the foreman said, "What are you waiting for, you copycat?"

At this moment, you had no time to think too much and quickly followed the others to pick up all the visible utensils at hand.

Then,

"Hit him, beat him to death."

When the foreman gave the order, you and everyone took action immediately. The foreman sealed the body bag and covered the old man's mouth, while the others started to attack him randomly. If someone could penetrate the car and look inside at this time, they would see several people, for some unknown reason, holding various instruments and beating a person frantically like dough and bullets.

Ding dong dong dong dong dong dong dong dong…

The human body's greeting, accompanied by the old man's muffled voice, became the only sound you heard in that small area.

Then the sound stopped. Your movements also stopped.

The old gentleman finally breathed his last and became motionless, while you breathed a sigh of relief.

Then within a few seconds, probably when the foreman quickly pushed the old man's body bag back, the superiors arrived at your car.

"Oh, you are here."

"Yes, sir, we just got off the bus."

"The situation is fine, nothing happened."

"Sir, everything is under control."

"What about the remains? The remains are all normal."

"Sir, yes."

"Okay, then take us to see something else."

"OK."

…

After that day, I heard that your superiors were quite satisfied with the successful completion of your mission.

You shouldn't be in any big trouble for the time being. For such a "good" result, several staff members like you held a small party in the dormitory to let everyone have a drink. As a rookie, you will naturally attend when invited by others.

I saw that everyone in the banquet was enjoying themselves, it was really like a celebration banquet. The atmosphere was jubilant and festive. You heard them say that the wailing sound of "remains" sometimes came from the cremator, and you also heard them say that the old man confirmed that the cause of death was a "street fight." "At least we didn't let the old man go in alive." A colleague said so.

Then, just as the party is coming to an end, you get a call from your mother back home. She must have seen the news on the news, "I heard it's getting serious here. What, is the city closed?"

You listened to the words of your colleagues, looked at the city outside, and suddenly remembered some rumors. They say that other people's homes are sealed so that they can't get out. People inside can't get medicine for chronic diseases, or the rationed supplies are simply not enough to eat. Let people die of illness, starvation, or to put it more nicely, jump off the building and die on their own initiative. Or, if a person is locked up, all the people, things, cats and dogs left behind by that person will be left alone. In addition, there are many more. In short, the causes of death of these people are all kinds of weird and strange. But now that I think about it, those causes of death were probably as real as the old gentleman's.

So, you raised your head and looked at the city outside the dormitory again, and then said,

"It's sealed, it's sealed, it's all sealed."

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