Chapter 8 Chapter Seven Unreasonable, Unexpected
Zhou Jue hung up the phone, quietly took off the coat and backpack on the hanger, and then tiptoed to the door. His parents were already sound asleep. He opened the door and looked for his shoes in the dark.At this time, he found a pair of green lights staring at him in the bathroom, a ghostly blue flashed in the green halo, like two will-o'-the-wisps attracting Zhou Jue's gaze.
Zhou Jue stopped moving, and the green light disappeared into the darkness in an instant, without even a sound.Zhou Jue was stunned for a few seconds, but he still quickly closed the door.
The autumn night was already a bit chilly, a gust of drafts blew past, Zhou Jue felt a strange coldness surrounding him, and then came a few meows from behind him.
Zhou Jue trembled all over. He looked down and found that the cat had also slipped out at some point.It didn't run away, but stood beside Zhou Jue, hooking Zhou Jue's ankle with its tail.Zhou Jue and the black cat looked at each other, the cat meowed, Zhou Jue heard his mother coughing from home, he hurriedly picked up the black cat and rushed downstairs.The air at night was very cold, and there was no one in the community except Zhou Jue, who was holding a black cat.
When Zhou Jue rang the doorbell of Chen Hao's house, the thin monkey who had already arrived opened the door for him.At this time, Chen Hao was wearing a very casual knitted sweater. He was propping his forehead with one hand, and was flipping through something with the other hand. He was so engrossed that he didn't even notice that Zhou Jue walked in front of him.
Zhou Jue lowered his head and shouted, "Brother Chen, I'm here."
Chen Hao's train of thought was disturbed by Zhou Jue. He pinched the bridge of his nose and looked up at Zhou Jue, but within a second, he greeted Zhou Jue with one sneeze, followed by another sneeze , the unrestrained and composed look in front was completely shattered by the successive sneezes.
Zhou Jue was sensitive and dodged quickly.Chen Hao covered his nose and said to Zhou Jue, "You, what did you bring?"
Zhou Jue didn't understand what he meant and shook his head.Chen Hao wanted to say something more, but he couldn't stop sneezing at all.The thin monkey standing beside him said, "Second brother, why is your backpack moving? What's in it? Why is it alive?"
Only then did Zhou Jue suddenly realize that he quickly opened the backpack and carried the black cat out of it.The black cat obviously didn't understand where he was, and he grabbed Zhou Jue's clothes in horror.When Chen Hao saw the black cat for the first time, his entire face turned green instantly, followed by an even more exaggerated sneeze.He stood up with difficulty, then pushed Zhou Jue away, and even retreated a few steps—he rushed into the bathroom, took out a wet towel to cover his nose, and looked at Zhou Jue viciously and said, "You are fine. What is the cat doing?"
Zhou Jue smiled awkwardly and briefly explained the matter. Chen Hao was very helpless. He wanted to swear but kept sneezing, and finally he could only blushed: "Throw it...Ah! Throw it out for me!"
Zhou Jue looked at the cat. The cat still couldn't recover from the panic, and jumped out of Zhou Jue's arms restlessly.It seemed to be very interested in Chen Hao, and walked towards him, but Chen Hao was afraid of it like a tiger snake, and retreated several steps, sneezing continuously.Zhou Jue knew that he couldn't throw the cat away, otherwise his mother would insist on nagging him to death when he got home, so he would just pretend to be stupid.As long as Chen Hao doesn't chop the cat up with a knife, they can do whatever they want.Thin Monkey knew Zhou Jue's personality, so he just pretended not to see it.
Chen Hao quickly dodged the black cat's "attack", he pointed at the toilet while holding his nose, as if ordering the cat to enter the toilet.But the black cat ignored him at all, and looked at the man like a fool.Chen Hao took several steps back in a row. In this way, the man and the cat were entangled for at least five minutes.From Zhou Jue's point of view, if this continues, the man surnamed Chen may abandon his house and run away.At this time, the black cat also felt that it had played enough, meowed at Zhou Jue and the thin cat, and entered Chen Hao's sister's room on its own, with such a domineering aura that even Zhou Jue was a little surprised, it dared to be the boss here.
Chen Hao wanted to stop it, but he didn't dare to step forward.But when the cat left, his sneezing stopped.He grabbed Zhou Jue who was still giggling, bumped him against the wall, and greeted him with crackling fists.
Zhou Jue clutched his stomach and hurriedly begged for mercy: "Stop beating. Hero, hero, big brother! Stop beating! I can't do anything about it. It's the one who wants to follow. It's a black cat that can ward off evil and overcome ghosts. By the way, didn't you say you have something to tell me? Let's talk about serious business."
Chen Hao felt that the lesson was almost done, and he let go of Zhou Jue after throwing the last left uppercut.He straightened his hair, then pointed to the side of the study nonchalantly and said, "Sit down. I'll wait for my business... Let's listen to what happened to him first."
The thin monkey hummed, sat back in his seat, and explained the process carefully. Finally, he took out the ticket and said, "Here, this is the ticket."
Zhou Jue covered his mouth and kept thinking, but he couldn't figure it out.He could only vaguely feel that the mysterious force seemed to have corroded them and led them on the so-called "journey".And most importantly, there are some more specific hints on this ticket, but...they haven't discovered it yet.
Zhou Jue was silent for a long time, then raised his head and said to Chen Hao, "Didn't you say that you also have something to tell us, what is it?"
Chen Hao changed his sitting position and sighed: "The book is here with me."
Hearing the word book, both Zhou Jue and Shouhou jumped up, and they glared at Chen Hao.Chen Hao showed a wry smile, and he said dejectedly: "That's right, it didn't let me go, and I also read this book."
Zhou Jue frowned and asked, "What's going on?"
Chen Hao shrugged his shoulders and said: "Hey, just a few days ago, I received a courier from Nanjing. There was no signature and only a mobile phone number. When I called, it was an empty number. I opened the package and found That's the one. I wanted to inform you immediately, but... like you, I couldn't control my desire, so I read it anyway."
Zhou Jue took a breath, "You" for a long time, but still didn't say a word, so he nodded helplessly and said, "It's all the same, you are also one of the seven."
Chen Hao's eyes dimmed a lot, and the previous calm expression disappeared from his face.Zhou Jue thought he was scared, but Chen Hao said, "If I become one of the seven, then my sister's words will come true, and she may not be here anymore."
Zhou Jue thought that the last entry in the diary written by Chen Hao's sister did say that if she died, Chen Hao would be her replacement.But what about herself?And whose replacement is she?
He rubbed his temples and said, "Now we can be sure that there was another group of people in front of us. They... are the previous ring of seven, right?"
Chen Hao closed his eyes, tried his best to control the grief and uneasiness in his heart, and when he opened his eyes again, he recovered a little calm, and he said: "Yes, my sister is from the previous batch of seven, and they are probably all They are no longer alive, and we are a new batch. In fact, we are now walking in their footsteps, drawn by some unknown force, as passive as we were five years ago."
The thin monkey hummed, and he said: "I, the second child, the third fat man, you, and the ninth child, there are five of us in total, and there are two unknown people. If there are seven people, what will happen? Woolen cloth?"
Zhou Jue felt like a gust of cold wind was blowing from behind. He touched his neck and said, "Forget about these things, one thing is for sure, we must be different from the predecessors! Otherwise, we will follow the methods of the previous batch of people. Do it, the final result is just a repetition. Only by completely breaking the rules can we seize the vitality."
Chen Hao nodded in agreement, and Zhou Jue continued: "So, we not only need to know how the seven people in the previous batch died, but also, we must find out the origin of this book and prevent strange things from happening again. As for The other two, maybe they haven't read the book, maybe they have. All in all, one thing is for sure, we have to understand where the book came from."
At this time, there was a slight cat meowing in Sister Chen Hao's room. At first, it sounded like a woman's sneer, and then something was overturned, making a crackling sound.
Chen Hao ran in quickly, and saw the black cat lying on the cabinet staring at them, and the ground was covered with shards of glass.Chen Hao gritted his teeth and stared at the cat, but he didn't dare to approach it. He pushed Zhou Jue and said, "Put that beast in the toilet for me!"
Zhou Jue had just learned how powerful Chen Hao was, and he didn't want to be trained again, so he approached the cat resentfully, then grabbed the cat and took it off the cabinet.Inadvertently, among the debris on the ground, he found a piece of paper with obvious burnt marks.Zhou Jue didn't care about the black cat anymore, but picked up the piece of paper, handed it to Chen Hao and said, "Brother Chen, what do you think this is?"
Chen Hao pinched his nose and shifted his attention from the black cat to Zhou Jue's hand. He took the paper and glanced at it for a few times, then doubts appeared in his eyes, and he said, "This paper is a piece of paper. mailing certificate, but the mailing address on it has been blurred."
He walked to the shards of glass talking to himself, flipped through them carefully, and found a few unburnt fragments.
The thin monkey said: "Why did your sister put these pieces into the vase? If you want to destroy it, wouldn't it be better to just destroy it?"
Chen Hao shook his head straight. He put the piece of paper he found in his hand, walked back to the study, spread the piece of paper on the table, and then called two people to come over and have a look.
The three found that among the fragments, in addition to the receipt for mailing, there was also a photo and several pieces of paper torn from the notepad.
Only one-third of that photo survived. There was a counter on the top, and there was a fixed sign of the museum on the far side. From this, it can be inferred that the photo was taken in the museum. There are only a few words in the explanatory text, which roughly means that this is a sacrificial vessel used to sacrifice the dead in the Southern Dynasties.Because the photo was burned, it is not clear what it is.
Chen Hao took out a notebook, quickly recorded the text on the piece of paper, and then took out his mobile phone to take a picture of the broken photo.He paced back and forth in the room, and suddenly said to Zhou Jue behind him, "This cat...is it really a black cat?"
Zhou Jue nodded seriously, Chen Hao coughed awkwardly, took out a mask from the drawer, and put it on silently.Zhou Jue found that the veins on his forehead were bulging, and he couldn't restrain his gloating in his heart.
Zhou Jue coughed and said, "Although there are too few clues, it's better than none. We can check from Nanjing and the library. In short, I think these clues that haven't been burned are probably left to us by your sister." Final message."
Chen Hao put his hands on the table, leaned over to look at it, and said slowly: "There are a few questions that you have overlooked."
Zhou Jue asked, "What's the problem?"
Chen Hao didn't look up at him, his voice was muffled because of a mask, he continued: "First, this book is not very thick, according to a person with normal reading ability, it can almost Finished it in one day. But since you got the book, we haven't even finished a third of it. There is a force that makes us read it in fits and starts. Why? Have you ever thought about it?"
Zhou Jue and Shouhou were speechless for a moment, indeed, they always read the novel intermittently, each time an inexplicable force prevented them from reading the whole novel at once.And, none of them thought about the consequences of turning to the last page to see the story.In fact, Zhou Jue knew that a big reason why they didn't look at the final result was that they were afraid that the scenes in the story would change in unexpected circumstances.Another situation is that the book itself dominates the progress and rhythm of the readers.
Zhou Jue stared at Chen Hao's profile and said, "What else?"
"Second point, where did the dead Feng Laojiu see? Did he finish reading the novel? Why did he die? Laojiu may also be a breakthrough, and we can't blindly choose to escape."
Zhou Jue smiled helplessly and said, "It's hard to say, now he doesn't show any abnormal behavior at all, he is a hundred times more normal than us."
Chen Hao stared at the piece of paper, shook his head and said, "No...he was actually abnormal from the beginning..."
Zhou Jue questioned, "What?"
Chen Hao narrowed his eyes as if recalling something specific, and said, "He's lying."
Both Zhou Jue and Shouhou couldn't keep up with Chen Hao's train of thought, and Chen Hao didn't care whether they could understand or not, and continued on his own: "He said he went to Xinjiang for a month, that is to say, he went to Xinjiang in the summer. He is still in Xinjiang, but his skin is very fair. No matter how good the sun protection is, it cannot be so white. The only thing that is certain is that he is lying. He has never been to Xinjiang.”
Zhou Jue seemed to be pierced through his brain by a thunderbolt, and the thin monkey beside him also had its mouth open enough to stuff a big egg.They were sweating coldly, Zhou Jue sat back on his chair with a bang, he looked at Chen Hao who was wearing a mask, Chen Hao was still looking at the piece of paper, without looking up.
Zhou Jue continued to ask: "What else?"
Chen Hao sneered a few times, and said: "The last point, and the most incomprehensible point, is how this book finds seven people. Are these seven people randomly selected, or designated? Why is this Will this book stay in the library forever? That is to say, there must be something in the library protecting the book."
Zhou Jue said: "We can ask Gu Lao, if there is anything, he will definitely know."
Chen Hao was slightly taken aback when he heard Gu Lao's name, but still nodded in agreement with Zhou Jue's decision.
Zhou Jue looked down at the photo, and said, "Skinny Monkey, call Fat San, let's continue reading this book." He looked at Chen Hao and said, "Since we have so many questions, let's continue reading. , maybe there will be an answer. This time we try not to stop, keep looking, and see how far we can see."
Chen Hao looked up at Zhou Jue, and said: "It's too late now, you guys stay and sleep first, and read the book tomorrow. I suggest everyone read it together, keep the same progress, and no one should read too much, it will be safer .”
At this time, there was not much time until dawn. Although they said to go to sleep, in fact, no one had the intention, so the three of them each had a cigarette and smoked until dawn.Zhou Jue saw that the sky had turned pale, and quickly called Fat San.
Fat San also stayed up all night, keeping his eyes open until dawn, when he heard Zhou Jue's phone call early in the morning and learned about the thin monkey, he almost trembled even when he squeaked.The more he listened, the more frightened he became. Before he finished listening, he dropped the phone and ran to Chen Hao's house in a hurry, feeling a bit like running to a shelter.
Fat San's mother was also a fat person, she wobbled and ran out of the kitchen, complaining loudly why the child ran outside after the holiday.Fat San didn't look back, but his mother found a photo in the crack of the door.
That photo was very similar to the one where Fat San was pressed under the glass all the time, but the difference was that there were three more people in this photo, three people his mother didn't know.His mother was a little puzzled, but still picked up the photo.Fat San's mother didn't notice that there was a strange place behind those seven people. This place was very deserted and definitely not a tourist attraction.
Fat San soon arrived at Chen Hao's home, the four of them didn't say much, they looked at each other a few times, and then began to read together.
The story continues grotesquely:
In the end, Lin Xu and Cuiniang moved forward almost like zombies by instinct.Lin Xu knew very well that as soon as he delivered the things to that place and Cui Niang met those so-called rendezvous people, he would be able to take the burden off his shoulders.Thinking of this, he actually had a little hesitation in his heart. He didn't know if he would meet Cuiniang again in the future, and if he would, on what occasion he would meet her, and if China would get better at that time, maybe it would be possible. When the flowers are blooming in warm clothes, take her to stroll along the Qinhuai River... This was just a passing thought, Lin Xu didn't have the physical strength to dream, he had to take this woman to a place he had never been to, and meet a group of people he didn't know the details of. Along the way, they always walked along the most desolate places to avoid the flames of war.They seldom eat, and if they are really hungry, they will catch some small animals.Animals in winter are as smart as thieves, but they were lucky. On the way, they caught an animal that looked like a wild boar. It might have been left alone. Anyway, the two hungry refugees walked down. That night, the winter night began to rain heavily again.The south is different from the north. It is not easy to snow when it is cold, but it is easy to rain.There are also ice particles caught in the rain, which are very painful when hit on the face. Lin Xu wiped his face and said, "We can't go anymore, let's find a place to hide and leave during the day." Cuiniang gritted her teeth and said, "No, we're almost there, just a little short. There's a ruined temple in front of us, let's go there first." After several hours of running around in the storm, Cuiniang took Lin Xu to hide in an unknown small temple.After getting into the temple, they took a deep breath. As soon as their tense nerves relaxed, they immediately felt the cold, the kind of unbearable cold. Cuiniang's lips were already purple from the cold, she covered her chin to keep her mouth from shaking too much.Lin Xu immediately searched for all the things that could be burned. He first set fire to the cloth, and then chopped off a low stool as firewood. Cuiniang looked a little lost, and Lin Xu felt that she might have caught a cold.Sure enough, Cuiniang started to sneeze one after another, and her body shook even more violently.He quickly dug out a few cold medicines from the medicine box and told Cuiniang to take them quickly, then he built a fire for Cuiniang alone, and then made a curtain with rags and said: "Miss Cuiniang , you have to take off your clothes and dry them, otherwise you will catch a cold and you won’t be able to travel.” Cuiniang didn't respond, Lin Xu shook her, Cuiniang nodded unconsciously, stood up unsteadily, then got into the curtain and began to undress.Lin Xu stood guard at the door. He was afraid of the cold wind coming in, so he erected the door panel that had fallen to one side. The rain outside hit the door panel, and it sounded like someone was slapping the door panel with all their strength.Lin Xu felt his head start to swell, and he knew that he was almost reaching his limit.Cuiniang is on the other side of the curtain, and he can see Cuiniang's shadow on the wall from this side.Cuiniang has a good figure, although she feels a little thin, but the lines of her neck are very beautiful.Cuiniang curled up by the fire, as if secretly crying again. Lin Xu felt that he was a bit obscene, but he thought it was because of his dizziness.Cuiniang didn't speak, and he didn't have the energy to talk to her.Gradually, Lin Xu felt that his body began to sink, just like his soul began to descend. He felt cold first, and then his body became hard and heavy.He was afraid that he would just fall asleep and die, so he tried desperately to concentrate—biting his tongue, pinching his arm with his nails. But he fell asleep anyway, and he entered a dream.In this dream, apart from the darkness, there is only one place where there is light.Lin Xu approached the inexplicable and mysterious photoelectric.He discovered that the point of light was a candle—a candle that was burning out. In the darkness, there was only one candle.Lin Xu picked it up, the candle was not warm at all, as if the flame was also cold. He began to look around, but it was still dark where the light fell, and he began to walk forward with the candle, but found that he could see nothing but the light of the candle.His eyes widened and he wanted to touch his surroundings. He walked four or five steps and felt as if he had reached the end.He wanted to touch with his hands, to be sure by perception.He stretched out his hand into the darkness suspiciously, and after touching it, he found that what he touched was...a large handful of jet-black hair!These hairs hung down like curtains, enveloping this strange space, and Lin Xu was in the very center of the black hairs. At this moment, the candle in his hand sizzled and went out. The hair began to shake and make a rustling sound.Lin Xu could only tightly hold the candle in his hand. At this time, he found that besides his hand, there was another hand covering his hand, holding the extinguished candle together.That hand was obviously not human, and it was so cold that Lin Xu's scalp tingled.He staggered back in fright, only then did he realize that those hairs had moved closer to him, and this hand was protruding from those hairs.He immediately wanted to slap that hand, and that hand seemed to sense Lin Xu's attacking consciousness, and the next second it retracted into his hair.Lin Xu kept turning his body, wary of the hands in the black hair. When there was only darkness around, Lin Xu's forehead was covered with sweat, and he could only tell by his voice.He told himself that he had to wake up, that this dream could not be repeated.His hair rustled harshly, and he felt someone approaching him.He instinctively stretched out his hand to resist, and when he touched the person's face, he felt that the person's face was covered with liquid, whether it was blood or tears.Because he can't see it. Then, he felt another person leaning against him behind him, and that person stretched out his hands from behind him, and slowly placed them on Lin Xu's eyes.Lin Xu only heard a voice that didn't sound like a human being at all. He felt his hair start to twitch uncomfortably, and Lin Xu's range of movement became smaller and smaller, and finally it was very difficult to even turn around.He understood, and the hair began to surround him.He felt it was difficult to breathe, as if he was getting tangled in the hair. He began to feel anxious, he knew it was a dream, but when will he wake up from this dream?This is the scariest thing, you know it's unreal, but you can't let it go. Soon Lin Xu felt these hairs began to approach his body, and he still felt the hard man behind him.He started to yell. As a soldier, he would not yell if he hadn't encountered unbearable fear, even if a bullet passed through his brain.If discipline keeps him from barking, he won't make a sound.But at this time, Lin Xu felt that he was back when he was a twelve-year-old child. He was lost, so he started crying. He wanted to find his brother, but he couldn't find it.In the end, under extreme fear and weakness, he saw his brother holding a lantern and his hair was covered with sweat. His brother looked for him all night, and he missed him all night. In this world, his elder brother was the one he loved the most, and the one he didn't want to think of the most.Lin Xu knew that he had done nothing wrong and that killing him was necessary, but there was another voice in his heart, that voice belonged to that twelve-year-old child, and the grown-up Lin Xu killed the only dear one of twelve-year-old Lin Xu .This point, Lin Xu felt more painful than anyone else. Lin Xu’s nightmare started when he killed his brother, maybe it started when the Japanese entered China, maybe it started when he found out that his brother was treasonous, maybe...it started when he found out that he was left alone . Hair wrapped around him, and he couldn't breathe.The person behind was sticking to him like a coffin board, wrapped in layers of hair together with him. He heard a very familiar and gentle voice behind him: "Xu'er, don't be afraid of the dark, the lights are always on..." In an instant, Lin Xu opened his eyes suddenly, and he realized that he finally woke up from this dream.He felt that his body was still very cold, and his hands and feet were already numb.He touched his forehead with a cold hand, and found that he was the one who caught the cold.This way is more difficult. He started to cough slightly and found it very difficult to breathe. He is a doctor and he knew that he needed to drink water at this time, but where would he get water for him?He thought of Cuiniang and wanted to see how she was doing.He whispered to the curtain: "Miss Cuiniang, are you awake?" Cuiniang in the curtain did not move, but nodded slightly.Lin Xu couldn't go in, so he nodded reassuringly.Then, he wanted to take a kettle outside to fill some rainwater and boil it for drinking.When he came back with his tired body filled with water, he found that Cuiniang was no longer behind the curtain.His heart trembled, he quickly put down the kettle and rushed behind the curtain, Cui Niang was gone.He anxiously called Cui Niang's name, it was pouring rain outside, and only these two piles of firewood in the ruined temple barely kept the temperature.Lin Xu braced his body and rushed into the rain—but it was pitch black outside the house, let alone a person, even a group of people he might not be able to see. At this moment, a woman's laughter suddenly came from the darkness. This sound was like a dry roar after exhaustion. It was a trembling sound from the throat. The voice was high and low. Lin Xu could not determine the source of the sound.Now he couldn't find Cuiniang, just when he decided to chase after the voice, a figure suddenly appeared from behind him, the speed of his movements was unbelievable.Lin Xu couldn't react in time. He felt his body being pulled backwards, and he fell backwards into the ruined temple, climbed over the threshold, and fell directly into it. Lin Xu felt a buzzing sound in the back of his head, almost blank for a few seconds. He struggled to get up and turned around to find that there was another person in the temple wearing a shroud and a red belt at some point.This man is very young, with a handsome appearance, but his eyes are full of coldness. Lin Xu got up slowly, the boy just took a step back, watching Lin Xu stand up awkwardly with cold eyes.Lin Xu supported his forehead and asked, "Who are you?" There was still no trace of emotion in the boy's eyes, he opened his lips slightly: "One of the seven." Lin Xu finally coughed, he knew he had a cold.The boy looked at him expressionlessly, as if his life and death had nothing to do with him.Lin Xu had no choice but to ask again: "So... who are you? My head hurts, my head hurts." Lin Xu got to the side of the fire, opened his medicine box, took out a medicine from it and swallowed it.The boy was already sitting in front of him silently at this moment: "My name is Liu Fei, and people call me Liu Ziyan." Lin Xu didn't know Jianghu's name, so he tilted his head and waited for him to say the following, but the young man's attitude towards him was very strange: "Aren't you a person of the Tao?" Lin Xu felt that what these people said were all slang words, and few of them could be understood.Lin Xu tilted his head even more, which made the young man's expressionless face finally show a trace of surprise, he said: "Since you are not a person of the Tao, how could Brother Hu let you replace her?" Lin Xu sighed helplessly, the boy's face darkened, and he said, "How do you know them?" Lin Xu smiled wryly several times, and told the young man how he met these two people, and how Hu Zi was seriously injured and forgot.When Liu Fei heard that Huzi was dead, he couldn't help being shocked. This was the most surprised and exaggerated expression that his delicate face could show.He clenched his fist and said to himself: "Brother Hu is actually dead... I thought you were replacing Cuiniang, so... the previous agreement is true..." Liu Fei didn't wait for Lin Xu to speak, and shook his head directly: "A person like you is not good at all, and you can't do the next thing. We will still fail." Hearing this, Lin Xu was a little annoyed. After all, a yellow-haired boy who is several years younger than him keeps repeating that he can't do it. This is a very embarrassing thing. Lin Xu said in a rough voice, "Why do you say that?" Liu Fei looked at him with a frown and said, "Do you know what our group of people do?" Lin Xu said angrily, "Didn't you fight backwards?" Liu Fei was amused by Lin Xu, squinted his eyes and laughed, and said, "No, I am a Buddha." Although Lin Xu didn't understand what it meant to fight back, he was a soldier after all. Since ancient times, soldiers and thieves were divided into water and fire, so he understood that Liu Fei was actually a gentleman. A middle-ranking officer and a thief were sitting face to face in the ruined temple at this time. It was raining heavily outside, and both of them were wearing a set of shrouds. Liu Fei sensed Lin Xu's entanglement with his identity, so he broke the silence first and said, "Then Brother Hu's part belongs to you?" Lin Xu nodded and touched the hard object in his arms. A suspicious and inexplicable emotion flashed in Liu Fei's eyes, and he asked again: "Have you opened it?" Lin Xu thought to himself: I almost ran for my life all the way, not to mention opening the package, and there were very few chances to catch my breath.Lin Xu smiled wryly and shook his head, they both asked at the same time, "How did you get involved?" After speaking, both of them laughed, which eased the tense atmosphere between them a lot.Liu Fei shrugged helplessly and said: "Fleeing, those little Japanese dogs said they wanted to massacre the city, so I followed the master from the north to the south. I didn't expect to go to the south, and found that it was no better than the northeast. In the end, the master died, and I went with him alone. They ran away together, and ended up with Brother Hu and the others." "So, what happened to you?" As if recalling a very terrible nightmare, Liu Fei supported his forehead, trembling slightly, and said in a hoarse voice: "The devil is chasing after us. Some of us were beaten to death by the devil. We are about to die. Brother Hu said that there was a tomb next to it with a robbery hole, so we entered that tomb, and what happened after that was beyond your imagination, we..." Just as Lin Xu took a deep breath and was about to ask further questions, he heard Cuiniang's weak cry from outside the door.The two quickly got up and rushed to the door.Cuiniang could not be found in the pitch blackness, and at this moment the sound also disappeared, leaving only the heavy rain pattering on the ground.Lin Xu tried to shout a few times, but his voice was sucked away by the heavy rain, and he became very weak. Lin Xu's body began to heat up, he took a few steps forward with difficulty and then fell backwards, Liu Fei quickly supported him with his hands.At this time they heard Cui Niang's calling again, but this time the voice came from behind them.They turned their heads and found Cui Niang leaning against the dilapidated gate, looking at them worriedly. Liu Fei helped Lin Xu back to the ruined temple, and he asked, "Cui Niang, why did you come out?" Cuiniang nodded and said: "I found that there is a secret passage in this place, which can lead to a small secret room, and there is a dead man in the small secret room." After speaking, the two of them followed Cui Niang to the inner hall of the temple. The Buddha statues here were crumbling and dilapidated. One Arhat's head had even fallen to the ground, but the glaring look never faded because of the dust.When Lin Xu turned his head again, he suddenly found that the glaring Arhat's head turned over for some reason, facing inward, with the back of his head facing Lin Xu. Lin Xu said suspiciously: "It was clearly facing me before..." After speaking, he went to pull the head.Lin Xu found that the head was not an arhat at all, but a dead man's head, with staring eyes and a big mouth, it seemed that he had maintained the panicked appearance when his head was cut off.The dead man moved his mouth, and said in the voice of a woman being choked, "Run away..." Lin Xu was so frightened that he took a few steps back and bumped into Liu Fei behind him.Liu Fei asked him what he found. He pointed to the head. Liu Fei looked at it and said casually, "It's just a Buddha's head. There are very few soldiers who are as timid as you." Lin Xu closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he found that there was indeed a Buddha head. Liu Fei ignored Lin Xu, followed Cui Niang to open the altar, and there was a huge black hole under the Buddha statue.Cuiniang motioned for the two of them to pick up the torch, and then went in with her.The aisle was not very long, and it ended after ten or so steps. They didn't understand why Cuiniang's voice came from the door. She must have cried out after seeing the frightened corpse. At the end is a secret room with four walls of bricks and tiles. There is no decoration in it, only piles of scriptures and scrolls, some of which have been rotted into a pile, looking like a pile of rags. If the dead man hadn't been reminded by Cui Niang in advance, if he saw the dead man suddenly, he would really make people sick from fright.This corpse doesn't look like a golden monk who died in a sitting position, it feels like he was murdered here.He fell into a pile of scriptures, and he didn't know whether it was because of the special material in the scriptures or some other reason, but the corpse turned into an embalmed mummy. Except for Cuiniang, who is a novice in fighting, the other two men are people who are used to watching life and death, and they didn't show much surprise.They turned the body over so that he was facing the sky towards the three of them, when they discovered that the shroud was also on the body. After Lin Xu looked at the corpse carefully, he took a breath and said, "He's the same as us..." Liu Fei suddenly discovered something, and shouted to the two of them: "Look, there seems to be something in the mouth of this corpse..."
In the end, Lin Xu and Cuiniang moved forward almost like zombies by instinct.Lin Xu knew very well that as soon as he delivered the things to that place and Cui Niang met those so-called rendezvous people, he would be able to take the burden off his shoulders.Thinking of this, he actually had a little hesitation in his heart. He didn't know if he would meet Cuiniang again in the future, and if he would, on what occasion he would meet her, and if China would get better at that time, maybe it would be possible. When the flowers are blooming in warm clothes, take her to stroll along the Qinhuai River... This was just a passing thought, Lin Xu didn't have the physical strength to dream, he had to take this woman to a place he had never been to, and meet a group of people he didn't know the details of. Along the way, they always walked along the most desolate places to avoid the flames of war.They seldom eat, and if they are really hungry, they will catch some small animals.Animals in winter are as smart as thieves, but they were lucky. On the way, they caught an animal that looked like a wild boar. It might have been left alone. Anyway, the two hungry refugees walked down. That night, the winter night began to rain heavily again.The south is different from the north. It is not easy to snow when it is cold, but it is easy to rain.There are also ice particles caught in the rain, which are very painful when hit on the face. Lin Xu wiped his face and said, "We can't go anymore, let's find a place to hide and leave during the day." Cuiniang gritted her teeth and said, "No, we're almost there, just a little short. There's a ruined temple in front of us, let's go there first." After several hours of running around in the storm, Cuiniang took Lin Xu to hide in an unknown small temple.After getting into the temple, they took a deep breath. As soon as their tense nerves relaxed, they immediately felt the cold, the kind of unbearable cold. Cuiniang's lips were already purple from the cold, she covered her chin to keep her mouth from shaking too much.Lin Xu immediately searched for all the things that could be burned. He first set fire to the cloth, and then chopped off a low stool as firewood. Cuiniang looked a little lost, and Lin Xu felt that she might have caught a cold.Sure enough, Cuiniang started to sneeze one after another, and her body shook even more violently.He quickly dug out a few cold medicines from the medicine box and told Cuiniang to take them quickly, then he built a fire for Cuiniang alone, and then made a curtain with rags and said: "Miss Cuiniang , you have to take off your clothes and dry them, otherwise you will catch a cold and you won’t be able to travel.” Cuiniang didn't respond, Lin Xu shook her, Cuiniang nodded unconsciously, stood up unsteadily, then got into the curtain and began to undress.Lin Xu stood guard at the door. He was afraid of the cold wind coming in, so he erected the door panel that had fallen to one side. The rain outside hit the door panel, and it sounded like someone was slapping the door panel with all their strength.Lin Xu felt his head start to swell, and he knew that he was almost reaching his limit.Cuiniang is on the other side of the curtain, and he can see Cuiniang's shadow on the wall from this side.Cuiniang has a good figure, although she feels a little thin, but the lines of her neck are very beautiful.Cuiniang curled up by the fire, as if secretly crying again. Lin Xu felt that he was a bit obscene, but he thought it was because of his dizziness.Cuiniang didn't speak, and he didn't have the energy to talk to her.Gradually, Lin Xu felt that his body began to sink, just like his soul began to descend. He felt cold first, and then his body became hard and heavy.He was afraid that he would just fall asleep and die, so he tried desperately to concentrate—biting his tongue, pinching his arm with his nails. But he fell asleep anyway, and he entered a dream.In this dream, apart from the darkness, there is only one place where there is light.Lin Xu approached the inexplicable and mysterious photoelectric.He discovered that the point of light was a candle—a candle that was burning out. In the darkness, there was only one candle.Lin Xu picked it up, the candle was not warm at all, as if the flame was also cold. He began to look around, but it was still dark where the light fell, and he began to walk forward with the candle, but found that he could see nothing but the light of the candle.His eyes widened and he wanted to touch his surroundings. He walked four or five steps and felt as if he had reached the end.He wanted to touch with his hands, to be sure by perception.He stretched out his hand into the darkness suspiciously, and after touching it, he found that what he touched was...a large handful of jet-black hair!These hairs hung down like curtains, enveloping this strange space, and Lin Xu was in the very center of the black hairs. At this moment, the candle in his hand sizzled and went out. The hair began to shake and make a rustling sound.Lin Xu could only tightly hold the candle in his hand. At this time, he found that besides his hand, there was another hand covering his hand, holding the extinguished candle together.That hand was obviously not human, and it was so cold that Lin Xu's scalp tingled.He staggered back in fright, only then did he realize that those hairs had moved closer to him, and this hand was protruding from those hairs.He immediately wanted to slap that hand, and that hand seemed to sense Lin Xu's attacking consciousness, and the next second it retracted into his hair.Lin Xu kept turning his body, wary of the hands in the black hair. When there was only darkness around, Lin Xu's forehead was covered with sweat, and he could only tell by his voice.He told himself that he had to wake up, that this dream could not be repeated.His hair rustled harshly, and he felt someone approaching him.He instinctively stretched out his hand to resist, and when he touched the person's face, he felt that the person's face was covered with liquid, whether it was blood or tears.Because he can't see it. Then, he felt another person leaning against him behind him, and that person stretched out his hands from behind him, and slowly placed them on Lin Xu's eyes.Lin Xu only heard a voice that didn't sound like a human being at all. He felt his hair start to twitch uncomfortably, and Lin Xu's range of movement became smaller and smaller, and finally it was very difficult to even turn around.He understood, and the hair began to surround him.He felt it was difficult to breathe, as if he was getting tangled in the hair. He began to feel anxious, he knew it was a dream, but when will he wake up from this dream?This is the scariest thing, you know it's unreal, but you can't let it go. Soon Lin Xu felt these hairs began to approach his body, and he still felt the hard man behind him.He started to yell. As a soldier, he would not yell if he hadn't encountered unbearable fear, even if a bullet passed through his brain.If discipline keeps him from barking, he won't make a sound.But at this time, Lin Xu felt that he was back when he was a twelve-year-old child. He was lost, so he started crying. He wanted to find his brother, but he couldn't find it.In the end, under extreme fear and weakness, he saw his brother holding a lantern and his hair was covered with sweat. His brother looked for him all night, and he missed him all night. In this world, his elder brother was the one he loved the most, and the one he didn't want to think of the most.Lin Xu knew that he had done nothing wrong and that killing him was necessary, but there was another voice in his heart, that voice belonged to that twelve-year-old child, and the grown-up Lin Xu killed the only dear one of twelve-year-old Lin Xu .This point, Lin Xu felt more painful than anyone else. Lin Xu’s nightmare started when he killed his brother, maybe it started when the Japanese entered China, maybe it started when he found out that his brother was treasonous, maybe...it started when he found out that he was left alone . Hair wrapped around him, and he couldn't breathe.The person behind was sticking to him like a coffin board, wrapped in layers of hair together with him. He heard a very familiar and gentle voice behind him: "Xu'er, don't be afraid of the dark, the lights are always on..." In an instant, Lin Xu opened his eyes suddenly, and he realized that he finally woke up from this dream.He felt that his body was still very cold, and his hands and feet were already numb.He touched his forehead with a cold hand, and found that he was the one who caught the cold.This way is more difficult. He started to cough slightly and found it very difficult to breathe. He is a doctor and he knew that he needed to drink water at this time, but where would he get water for him?He thought of Cuiniang and wanted to see how she was doing.He whispered to the curtain: "Miss Cuiniang, are you awake?" Cuiniang in the curtain did not move, but nodded slightly.Lin Xu couldn't go in, so he nodded reassuringly.Then, he wanted to take a kettle outside to fill some rainwater and boil it for drinking.When he came back with his tired body filled with water, he found that Cuiniang was no longer behind the curtain.His heart trembled, he quickly put down the kettle and rushed behind the curtain, Cui Niang was gone.He anxiously called Cui Niang's name, it was pouring rain outside, and only these two piles of firewood in the ruined temple barely kept the temperature.Lin Xu braced his body and rushed into the rain—but it was pitch black outside the house, let alone a person, even a group of people he might not be able to see. At this moment, a woman's laughter suddenly came from the darkness. This sound was like a dry roar after exhaustion. It was a trembling sound from the throat. The voice was high and low. Lin Xu could not determine the source of the sound.Now he couldn't find Cuiniang, just when he decided to chase after the voice, a figure suddenly appeared from behind him, the speed of his movements was unbelievable.Lin Xu couldn't react in time. He felt his body being pulled backwards, and he fell backwards into the ruined temple, climbed over the threshold, and fell directly into it. Lin Xu felt a buzzing sound in the back of his head, almost blank for a few seconds. He struggled to get up and turned around to find that there was another person in the temple wearing a shroud and a red belt at some point.This man is very young, with a handsome appearance, but his eyes are full of coldness. Lin Xu got up slowly, the boy just took a step back, watching Lin Xu stand up awkwardly with cold eyes.Lin Xu supported his forehead and asked, "Who are you?" There was still no trace of emotion in the boy's eyes, he opened his lips slightly: "One of the seven." Lin Xu finally coughed, he knew he had a cold.The boy looked at him expressionlessly, as if his life and death had nothing to do with him.Lin Xu had no choice but to ask again: "So... who are you? My head hurts, my head hurts." Lin Xu got to the side of the fire, opened his medicine box, took out a medicine from it and swallowed it.The boy was already sitting in front of him silently at this moment: "My name is Liu Fei, and people call me Liu Ziyan." Lin Xu didn't know Jianghu's name, so he tilted his head and waited for him to say the following, but the young man's attitude towards him was very strange: "Aren't you a person of the Tao?" Lin Xu felt that what these people said were all slang words, and few of them could be understood.Lin Xu tilted his head even more, which made the young man's expressionless face finally show a trace of surprise, he said: "Since you are not a person of the Tao, how could Brother Hu let you replace her?" Lin Xu sighed helplessly, the boy's face darkened, and he said, "How do you know them?" Lin Xu smiled wryly several times, and told the young man how he met these two people, and how Hu Zi was seriously injured and forgot.When Liu Fei heard that Huzi was dead, he couldn't help being shocked. This was the most surprised and exaggerated expression that his delicate face could show.He clenched his fist and said to himself: "Brother Hu is actually dead... I thought you were replacing Cuiniang, so... the previous agreement is true..." Liu Fei didn't wait for Lin Xu to speak, and shook his head directly: "A person like you is not good at all, and you can't do the next thing. We will still fail." Hearing this, Lin Xu was a little annoyed. After all, a yellow-haired boy who is several years younger than him keeps repeating that he can't do it. This is a very embarrassing thing. Lin Xu said in a rough voice, "Why do you say that?" Liu Fei looked at him with a frown and said, "Do you know what our group of people do?" Lin Xu said angrily, "Didn't you fight backwards?" Liu Fei was amused by Lin Xu, squinted his eyes and laughed, and said, "No, I am a Buddha." Although Lin Xu didn't understand what it meant to fight back, he was a soldier after all. Since ancient times, soldiers and thieves were divided into water and fire, so he understood that Liu Fei was actually a gentleman. A middle-ranking officer and a thief were sitting face to face in the ruined temple at this time. It was raining heavily outside, and both of them were wearing a set of shrouds. Liu Fei sensed Lin Xu's entanglement with his identity, so he broke the silence first and said, "Then Brother Hu's part belongs to you?" Lin Xu nodded and touched the hard object in his arms. A suspicious and inexplicable emotion flashed in Liu Fei's eyes, and he asked again: "Have you opened it?" Lin Xu thought to himself: I almost ran for my life all the way, not to mention opening the package, and there were very few chances to catch my breath.Lin Xu smiled wryly and shook his head, they both asked at the same time, "How did you get involved?" After speaking, both of them laughed, which eased the tense atmosphere between them a lot.Liu Fei shrugged helplessly and said: "Fleeing, those little Japanese dogs said they wanted to massacre the city, so I followed the master from the north to the south. I didn't expect to go to the south, and found that it was no better than the northeast. In the end, the master died, and I went with him alone. They ran away together, and ended up with Brother Hu and the others." "So, what happened to you?" As if recalling a very terrible nightmare, Liu Fei supported his forehead, trembling slightly, and said in a hoarse voice: "The devil is chasing after us. Some of us were beaten to death by the devil. We are about to die. Brother Hu said that there was a tomb next to it with a robbery hole, so we entered that tomb, and what happened after that was beyond your imagination, we..." Just as Lin Xu took a deep breath and was about to ask further questions, he heard Cuiniang's weak cry from outside the door.The two quickly got up and rushed to the door.Cuiniang could not be found in the pitch blackness, and at this moment the sound also disappeared, leaving only the heavy rain pattering on the ground.Lin Xu tried to shout a few times, but his voice was sucked away by the heavy rain, and he became very weak. Lin Xu's body began to heat up, he took a few steps forward with difficulty and then fell backwards, Liu Fei quickly supported him with his hands.At this time they heard Cui Niang's calling again, but this time the voice came from behind them.They turned their heads and found Cui Niang leaning against the dilapidated gate, looking at them worriedly. Liu Fei helped Lin Xu back to the ruined temple, and he asked, "Cui Niang, why did you come out?" Cuiniang nodded and said: "I found that there is a secret passage in this place, which can lead to a small secret room, and there is a dead man in the small secret room." After speaking, the two of them followed Cui Niang to the inner hall of the temple. The Buddha statues here were crumbling and dilapidated. One Arhat's head had even fallen to the ground, but the glaring look never faded because of the dust.When Lin Xu turned his head again, he suddenly found that the glaring Arhat's head turned over for some reason, facing inward, with the back of his head facing Lin Xu. Lin Xu said suspiciously: "It was clearly facing me before..." After speaking, he went to pull the head.Lin Xu found that the head was not an arhat at all, but a dead man's head, with staring eyes and a big mouth, it seemed that he had maintained the panicked appearance when his head was cut off.The dead man moved his mouth, and said in the voice of a woman being choked, "Run away..." Lin Xu was so frightened that he took a few steps back and bumped into Liu Fei behind him.Liu Fei asked him what he found. He pointed to the head. Liu Fei looked at it and said casually, "It's just a Buddha's head. There are very few soldiers who are as timid as you." Lin Xu closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he found that there was indeed a Buddha head. Liu Fei ignored Lin Xu, followed Cui Niang to open the altar, and there was a huge black hole under the Buddha statue.Cuiniang motioned for the two of them to pick up the torch, and then went in with her.The aisle was not very long, and it ended after ten or so steps. They didn't understand why Cuiniang's voice came from the door. She must have cried out after seeing the frightened corpse. At the end is a secret room with four walls of bricks and tiles. There is no decoration in it, only piles of scriptures and scrolls, some of which have been rotted into a pile, looking like a pile of rags. If the dead man hadn't been reminded by Cui Niang in advance, if he saw the dead man suddenly, he would really make people sick from fright.This corpse doesn't look like a golden monk who died in a sitting position, it feels like he was murdered here.He fell into a pile of scriptures, and he didn't know whether it was because of the special material in the scriptures or some other reason, but the corpse turned into an embalmed mummy. Except for Cuiniang, who is a novice in fighting, the other two men are people who are used to watching life and death, and they didn't show much surprise.They turned the body over so that he was facing the sky towards the three of them, when they discovered that the shroud was also on the body. After Lin Xu looked at the corpse carefully, he took a breath and said, "He's the same as us..." Liu Fei suddenly discovered something, and shouted to the two of them: "Look, there seems to be something in the mouth of this corpse..."