October 31, 2017 local time in the United States.

Halloween Eve.

1/

The residential area of Houston is already in a festive atmosphere. On the way home from the stadium in the city the night before, Yu Koharu saw that almost every house was filled with Halloween decorations. Jack-o'-lanterns are just a beginner's thing, but they are also the most indicative of the great enthusiasm that the American people are putting into the holiday. Not only is the size of each pumpkin inherited, but the fine tradition of "everything should be one size bigger" in the United States - not to mention that he is still in Texas, which is "big and bigger" - is bigger than what Yu Xiaochun has bought in China, and the carving design is also full of flowers. Not only do you have the basic shape of the devil lantern, but also the fancy carving that is comparable to that of a domestic restaurant chef, and what is even more powerful is the super pumpkin lantern that is carved into different parts and combined.

No, the house in front of him on the right has such an amazing work, a number of pumpkins, which are carved into the appearance of characters in the horror comedy movie "The Addams Family", each character's "head" is filled with white, yellow, blue, green and purple light bulbs, placed on the branches of the grass in front of the door, and then put on costumes for the tree, and suddenly jumped out of a grotesque and happy family portrait scene.

"How's Yiming's injury?" Seeing that Koharu was interested in the Halloween decorations outside the window, Jose who drove him also deliberately slowed down the car and started talking with concern.

"The doctor said there was no major problem, but the left shoulder was slightly dislocated." Yu Xiaochun pretended to be relaxed.

"How long does it take to recover?"

"The doctor said it would take at least a month."

"So long?!" José still sensed the seriousness of the problem and exclaimed, "It's going to be after Thanksgiving." ”

"Hmm." Perhaps wanting to ease the slightly heavy atmosphere at the moment, Yu Xiaochun said a few more words to himself, "The doctor said that Yiming is the first time that he has a shoulder dislocation, and it is better to observe and recover for a period of time, so as not to form a habitual dislocation in the future, which will be more troublesome..."

"Sounds complicated." Jose shook his head and sighed softly.

José's English is not very good, perhaps because he speaks too much medical jargon, and he must have a little difficulty understanding. Yu Xiaochun had no choice but to think like this and comfort himself.

Honk.

His phone shook in the dark.

The sender was Meritis, the Rockets' team assistant, "Still awake?" ”

Yu Xiaochun quickly replied with a "yes".

Ding-dong.

Meritis's call followed.

"Koharu! How are you? It was late at night, but the voice on the other end of the phone was still full of energy like the unobstructed sunshine of Texas.

"I'm fine." Yu Xiaochun's reply was not excited.

"What about Yang? What about his injuries? After the greetings, it was really concerned about Yang Yiming's injury that was the focus of Meritis's phone call.

Yu Xiaochun then told Jose what he had just said to Jose and told her carefully and carefully.

"A dislocated shoulder isn't particularly troublesome." I don't know if Meritis deliberately comforted him, "I've seen a lot of players with dislocated shoulders here. His upper body strength is so good that he should recover soon. ”

"I hope so."

"Trust me!" Meritis has an unmistakably confident tone.

2/

The car is close to the mansion rented by Yang Yiming and Yu Xiaochun, on both sides of the dark mountain road, the iron doors of the private houses are lined up, but the decorations for Halloween are becoming less and less.

Maybe the rich don't like to make their homes bells and whistles. There must be a "classy" - the night before, Yang Yiming, who was going home in Jose with Yu Xiaochun, saw this deserted scene and commented on the two of them. But at this time, Yang Yiming needed to stay in the hospital for observation for one night because of a shoulder injury, and only Yu Xiaochun and Jose were left in the car.

"Is it true that Yiming can't go to New York?" Meritis's phone calls continued. The game at Madison Square Garden in New York was the next mission for the Rockets.

"Well, the doctor advised him to stay in Houston for the first time, wait for the next game and see the situation, and decide whether he wants to go with the team."

"Got it." She paused for a moment, and in the silence she could hear the sound of pen and paper rubbing, as if she was recording. "What about you? Are you still going? The friction stopped, and Meritis asked Yu Xiaochun again.

"Me? I'll go. Yu Xiaochun thought of the person Kalonsky II had given him the contact information, and he happened to be in New York City, so he made an excuse and explained, "I want to experience the basketball atmosphere of Madison Square Garden." I can also help the rest of the team if I need to. ”

"Okay." There was another commuting movement on the other end, "I made a note of it, let's rest early, Koharu." ”

Okay, good night.

As he spoke, José's car had already driven to the door of the mansion where Yu Xiaochun's house was, and a towering metal telescopic door blocked the view from the courtyard. Unlike other homes, this silver metal door has no holiday decorations, and it glows with a faint blue light in the moonlight, which makes it look unusually cold.

"That's right!" Just before Koharu was about to cut off the phone, Meritis seemed to suddenly remember something.

Well? What's wrong.

"What are your plans for you and Yang tomorrow Halloween Eve?"

"I don't think so." Yu Xiaochun glanced at the metal door with little soup and little water, and said helplessly.

"Why don't you come to my house, I've got a Halloween party." Meritis actively invited, "It's all friends, and there is no competition task for Yiming anyway, so you can come too." ”

Her sunny enthusiasm is impossible to refuse.

"Remember to cross-dress, make a scary!"

Well. Yu Xiaochun had no way not to agree.

"See you tomorrow, at 10 o'clock, I'll send you the address!"

3/

Meritis' home is in Houston, not far from the Rockets' training base, presumably for the convenience of commuting to work. According to the street address she gave, the whole road was full of townhouses, and Yu Xiaochun and his party could only slow down and slowly find the corresponding house number.

"Which one?" José looked left and right.

"Number 67." Yu Xiaochun, who was dressed as a blackened Harry Potter, took out his mobile phone from the pocket under his robe, and looked at the address on it again, "The one with the big spider at the door." ”

What big spiders?

Yu Xiaochun, who received this strange address text message, also asked Meritis rhetorically at that time. The other half of the line that he didn't say in his heart was actually that on Halloween, every house was not decorated with a spider at the door.

"You know when you see it." Meritis's answer did nothing to solve his doubts.

Big spider...

"There!" Yang Yiming pointed to a family in front of the left side of the car.

Yu Xiaochun looked in the direction he pointed, and there was really a big spider in the distance that could only be seen at first sight. Meritis's two-storey townhouse, which was inconspicuous on this street, was now covered in a large web of hemp rope, and a spider more than a man tall hung down from the roof and lay on the window of the second floor, as if the small houses of the whole street had become the prey of its feet. There is also a motion sensor device installed in the spider's body, once someone approaches, the mechanism will be activated, and the spider will suddenly fall a few meters and fall in front of pedestrians, and the agate green compound eyes on the body will flash non-stop.

"That's so cool!" Before he could stop, Yang Yiming couldn't wait to jump out of Jose's Toyota van.

"Be careful." Yu Xiaochun hurriedly reminded. For the party, Yang Yiming, who was also suffering from a shoulder injury, took advantage of the situation to dress up as Frankenstein, a product of crazy scientific experiments, and the triangle on his arm was fixed like a device used to connect limbs at this time, plus a height of more than two meters, it was really vivid to play Frankenstein as a monster.

"Hey, boys, have fun." Jose in the driver's seat squeezed his eyes at them, "Have a good experience of America's body!" ”

He also deliberately added the word "good".

America's body?

This group of demons should really bring Yang Yiming, who has just arrived in the United States. You must know that according to his own words, in China, he is also a good player who concentrates on training and never lingers in the place of alcohol.

Yu Xiaochun thought, but what if he was only in China and didn't have a chance?

Tear open the cobwebs of hemp rope and push open the door of Villa Meritis, and a wave of heat and deafening music hits your face. Yang Yiming walked in front, and as soon as he entered the door, he stood out from the crowd and was surrounded by layers of people in the house.

"Frankenstein!"

"Hey, buddy, you're too tall, you're a monster!"

"Big man, let's have a drink together!"

Yu Xiaochun suddenly regretted accepting this Halloween invitation.