I Return From Hell

Chapter 102: Chapter 95: Xia Tian’s Revenge

The night grew deeper.

The more Xia Hongchun thought about it, the angrier he became. ’If I can’t find Xia Yu and the others, this whole trip will have been for nothing. I’ve wasted a whole day, and I’m dog-tired.’

’I have to find them tonight!’

’Wang Chunxue and Wang Dan are still waiting at home. If I go back empty-handed, they’ll definitely look down on me. I’ll have to endure all their taunts and sarcasm.’

’It’s so damn embarrassing!’

”Little Erlang, off to school, with a book bag on his back...”

Just then, a young man, staggering drunk, came walking toward him, humming a tune.

”Excuse me, young man. Could I ask you something?”

Xia Hongchun asked, his face wreathed in a polite smile.

”Whaddaya want? Spit it out.”

The drunk man tried to stop, but only managed to stumble in a circle.

Xia Hongchun: ”...”

’Just how much did he drink?’

”You...”

Fearing the man would pass out right there on the pavement, he hurried to ask his question.

Just then.

His phone, still in his pocket, blared: ”Get the fuck out of here, you drunk! The sight of you makes me sick. All you do is drink, drink, drink. Why don’t you just drink yourself to death?!”

”You’re drunk off your ass, how has a car not hit you? You must have some bullshit luck to still be walking.”

”What are you looking at? Yeah, I’m talking to you!”

???

’Why does that voice sound just like mine?’

Xia Hongchun was dumbfounded. He instinctively glanced down at his pocket.

”What did you just say?”

”I’ll fucking kill you!”

The man had been drinking to drown his sorrows. Hearing this, he flew into an instant rage and smashed his fist into Xia Hongchun’s face.

”Ah!”

Xia Hongchun cried out in pain. He was about to retaliate but stopped himself. ’If I fight back, it’ll be a brawl and I’ll get in trouble. Besides,’ he thought, ’this was my phone’s fault.’

So...

He turned and fled in disgrace.

Luckily, his assailant was so drunk—taking one step forward for every two he staggered back—that he had no hope of catching him.

「A few minutes later.」

Gasping for breath, Xia Hongchun reached the entrance to the residential complex and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

The phone looked completely normal, which only confused him more.

’Was that... a hallucination?’

He winced.

The throbbing pain in his face reminded him it had all been real.

But what the hell was going on?

He couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

’I’ve heard that old phones can start sending messages and making calls on their own.’

A glimmer of understanding dawned on Xia Hongchun. ’My phone’s probably just old. It’s time for a new one.’

’Androids are such garbage. It’s not even two years old and it’s already crapping out.’

’When I get some money, I’m definitely buying an iPhone.’

The thought that his smartphone, which cost him over a thousand, was already acting up after just two years made him start cursing aloud.

A couple was about to enter the complex.

They looked very much in love.

Xia Hongchun quickly pushed his chaotic thoughts aside, plastered on a smile, and walked over to greet them. ”Hello there.”

The woman took a step back.

The man pulled his girlfriend behind him and asked warily, ”Can I help you?”

”Well...”

Before Xia Hongchun could speak, he worried his phone might act up again. He quickly put it on silent, only then feeling at ease.

’He says hello and then immediately starts fiddling with his phone?’

’What’s that supposed to mean?’

The couple was completely baffled, and their guard went up even higher. You had to be careful when you ran into strange people late at night.

”I...”

Xia Hongchun had just opened his mouth to speak.

The next moment.

His voice once again blared from his phone: ”Your girlfriend’s really hot. Can I have a go?”

”Don’t worry, one night is all I need.”

”If not, I’ll pay you! Is a hundred enough?”

”How about two hundred?”

”The price is negotiable.”

”It’s just that your girlfriend is totally my type, haha...”

’Oh, crap!’

Hearing this, Xia Hongchun’s eye twitched violently. He had a sinking feeling he was about to get his ass kicked.

And just as he expected!

The couple exploded in anger. ”Pervert! Brother Jie, get him!”

”I’ll fucking kill you, you dumbass!”

They were perfectly sober and knew the voice was coming from the phone. But Xia Hongchun had just been fiddling with it, and immediately after, it had started spouting such filth.

He didn’t do that on purpose?

Who would believe it wasn’t?!

Beat him up!

”Wait, let me explain.”

”Explain my ass!” THWACK!

”AARGH!”

「A few minutes later.」

Xia Hongchun finally managed to escape, sporting a fresh black eye and a couple of dusty footprints on his clothes.

He looked as pathetic as a stray dog.

He winced.

The pain throbbing in his eye socket was excruciating. He pulled out his phone, wanting nothing more than to smash it to pieces. But the thought of how it had cost him over a thousand made him hesitate. Instead, he could only snarl at it, ”If you act up one more fucking time, I swear I’ll smash you!”

”If I had the money, I’d smash you to bits right now, you son of a bitch.”

He powered the phone off.

”Let’s see you run your mouth now!”

Xia Hongchun waited for the couple to leave before creeping back to the complex entrance. He was just about to find someone else to ask for directions.

When his phone boomed with his own voice, loud enough to wake the dead: ”This is a robbery!”

”I paved this road, I planted this tree! If you wish to pass, you must pay the fee!”

The area fell silent.

Several people looked up. One guy was so startled he even stopped scrolling through pictures of models on his phone to stare at Xia Hongchun, his face a mask of alarm.

Mortified, Xia Hongchun turned and ran.

”There’s no shortage of idiots in the world, but there seems to be a surplus today.”

”What a psycho.”

”Let’s go, let’s go. Life is hard... it’s driven another one crazy.”

...

Hearing the comments from behind, Xia Hongchun’s face burned with shame. He wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

’A new one!’

’I have to get a new phone when I get back!’

He couldn’t stand to be there a second longer and hurried home.

「In the dead of night.」

Xia Hongchun finally made it home. He was exhausted and battered, a complete wreck.

But when he saw the lights on at home, his heart warmed. ’She’s a good woman,’ he thought. ’She won’t go to sleep until I’m back.’

’Is she that thirsty for me?’

He’d learned all these phrases online, even memorizing a few. He thought they were much more interesting than the old-fashioned things he used to say back in the village.

”Chunxue...”

he called out, his voice full of tenderness.

And then.

”You have the nerve to show your face here?”

”I’m going to beat the shit out of you!”

”Wang Dan, hit him! Beat him senseless!”

Wang Chunxue and Wang Dan proceeded to give him a thorough beating.

「Ten minutes later.」

His head covered in lumps, Xia Hongchun stared at the wailing Wang Chunxue, completely bewildered. ”Why did you beat me up?”

Wang Dan shot back, ”Weren’t you the one who video-called my sister, yelling at her for destroying your family and saying you were going to kick her out?”

Wang Chunxue wailed, ”You heartless bastard... Weren’t you the one who came on to me? And now you’re blaming me for everything.”

???

Xia Hongchun was stunned for a moment, and then it hit him. ”It was the phone again!”

’Is this thing broken or not?’

’How does it seem even smarter now than when I first bought it?’

”Are you sure the person in the video was me?”

he asked.

”It was you!”

”Absolutely.”

Wang Dan cursed, ”Still trying to deny it?”

Xia Hongchun was utterly baffled. ”How is that possible? My phone has been turned off this whole time.”

The next moment.

”Xia Hongchun, you betrayed me.”

”I’ve only just died, and you couldn’t wait to bring your whore home?”

An unearthly voice echoed through the room.

Just then, a gust of night wind swept through.

It was bone-chillingly cold.

Making everyone shiver.

”That’s Chun Lan’s voice!”

Xia Hongchun’s face went pale. He nearly jumped out of his skin, his eyes darting around in terror.

”AHH!”

”It wasn’t my fault! Your man came on to me, sob sob...”

Wang Chunxue and Wang Dan clung to each other, on the verge of a complete breakdown.

CLICK.

The lights suddenly went out.

”AHHH!”

Screams erupted once more.

The three of them scrambled over each other to get out the door, all thought of anything else abandoned.

Only after they had stumbled outside did they realize: Wang Chunxue’s son was still asleep in the house!

Panic set in!

The commotion ended up waking half the village.

It was quite a scene.