The response from the phone was swift.
Gu Mian held the receiver, heard two quick BEEPS, and then someone picked up.
The voice on the other side belonged to what sounded like a teenage girl.
"Hello, this is Sunshine Taxi."
Hearing the sudden, youthful female voice, Gu Mian paused briefly before responding, "I need to call a car..."
Without hesitation, she replied, "Okay, I have noted down your address. Please wait a moment."
Then she added, in a cautionary tone, "Don't wander off!"
With that, she hung up.
Gu Mian stared at the receiver, slightly taken aback.
The time on the phone display was 1:02 AM.
At this hour, he certainly wasn't going anywhere.
The person who answered the phone must have been a taxi dispatcher who takes calls from passengers, notes their location, and assigns a taxi.
But the young woman hadn't asked Gu Mian where he was.
Standing in the transparent phone booth, he looked outside. The night was pitch black, not a soul in sight.
Maybe this phone booth has GPS, so the young woman didn't ask where I was and just assigned a taxi, Gu Mian thought.
But for the dispatcher to still be on duty at this late hour? That's rather commendable.
Gu Mian mused, "That girl sounded young, maybe even a high school student..."
Employing minors is illegal, right? Still, the laws in this instance might be different from the real world's laws.
With that thought, Gu Mian glanced at the map in his hand again. This map was similar in size and material to a small street flyer. He flipped it over; the other side was clearly an advertisement. The "Yecheng City map" he'd been looking at, apparently made for visitors and showing complex routes, was printed on the back of this ad.
Gu Mian was in the upper-left corner of the map, which seemed to be a remote part of Yecheng City.
The wind outside howled. Chilling air blew in from the distant darkness, crashing against the glass of the phone booth. It made a horrifying sound, like a monster's roar.
He looked up again. The surrounding darkness was oppressive, streetlights flickering ominously. There was still no taxi in sight.
Gu Mian returned his gaze to the small advertisement in his hands.
The front of the paper held the actual content of the advertisement.
Like a newspaper, it was divided into several sections, but most of it was filled with meaningless content, as if they couldn't sell the ad space.
Aside from two sections and the date in the upper-left corner, there was nothing else useful.
Gu Mian first glanced at the date in the upper-left corner: July 30, 2002.
The phone booth had no light, so he had to hold the small advertisement close to the glass, using the dim streetlight from outside to painstakingly read the fine print.
The first section Gu Mian found useful was an advertisement related to a taxi service.
[Sunshine Taxi Company]
[At Sunshine Taxi, we are dedicated to serving our passengers, bringing them comfort and safety. Please rest assured when you ride with Sunshine Taxi. Our drivers will provide you with the safest service.]
"Comfortable and safe service," Gu Mian repeated the phrase. "Now, everyone's probably just hoping your taxi drivers aren't ghosts, right?"
The taxi he had called belonged to the Sunshine Taxi Company, and this company had also appeared on the small advertisement in his hand. This was clearly not a coincidence.
But he still didn't understand the connection. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel{f}ire.net
After all, this instance has just begun... Gu Mian comforted himself.
The second section he found useful was a missing person notice.
[Missing Person Notice]
[Resident of Yecheng City, university student. Disappeared on July 24, 2002, after boarding a taxi. Height: 165 cm. Last seen wearing a white T-shirt and denim shorts.]
[If you see her, please contact her family immediately or call 110. A substantial reward will be given!]
Below were the family's contact details and a photograph.
Gu Mian examined the photo.
The woman in the picture had shoulder-length hair and wore thin-framed glasses. She looked quite delicate and was rather pretty.
"Sunshine Taxi, a female university student disappearing after getting into a cab..."
Gu Mian still remembered the introduction to this instance: "Years ago, a terrifying tale spread throughout Yecheng City. It was said that some people vanished into thin air after taking a strange taxi past midnight."
The taxis in Yecheng City were indeed strange. It was highly probable that an assassin targeting taxi passengers had emerged.
Gu Mian mumbled to himself, "It seems that to find clues in this instance, I must interact with taxis."
As he spoke, he glanced at the date in the upper-left corner again: July 30, 2002. Lin Rongrong, the university student, had disappeared on July 24th.
So, it's exactly six days after Lin Rongrong disappeared?
Gu Mian stroked his chin.
Just then, the roaring sound of an engine suddenly came from outside.
Gu Mian looked up and saw two beams of light appear on the distant road. The intense lights illuminated the street, and then he saw the front of a green sedan.
It looked like an ordinary taxi.
At this moment, the taxi was speeding towards him at a terrifying rate.
The roar of the engine was accompanied by the fierce howl of the wind.
As if to match the sound of the car, the wind grew stronger, sending shivers down his spine.
The sound of brakes tore through the air beside the phone booth as the speeding green taxi lurched to a sudden halt.
Immediately, the driver rolled down the window. "Hello, did you call for a taxi?"
The moment the window was down, Gu Mian saw the driver's face clearly.
It wasn't the ghost face he'd imagined—perhaps one missing half its head—nor anything else disgusting. It was just an ordinary, perfectly normal human face.
And it belonged to a girl; her voice was very familiar.
It was the one he had spoken to on the phone.
The girl had a thin pot-lid fringe, and her slightly curly hair was tied back in a ponytail. Her face was very clean, and her rather large eyes shimmered gently under the streetlight.
Gu Mian recalled a trend from his middle school days when avatars with a strong non-mainstream vibe were popular in his class: pot-lid bangs, overly large doll-like eyes, fair skin, and mouths covered by sleeves.
This girl looked just like those avatars.
Although looking back, those avatars seem exceptionally tacky now, seeing such a girl in real life would still make people take a second look. Not to mention, she was genuinely pretty.
"I called for the taxi." Confirming she didn't have a ghost face, Gu Mian pushed open the phone booth door and slipped out.
The moment he stepped out, a fierce wind slammed into him, chilling him to the bone.
Just then, as the cold wind hit his face, clearing his head a bit, something suddenly occurred to Gu Mian.
The girl was looking up at him and smiling. "It's cold outside. Get in the car first..."
But before she could finish, she saw the Doctor-looking figure, who seemed to be carrying a large guitar, frown and suddenly exclaim, "Wait a minute!"