Chapter 3 Chapter Two: The Haunted House in the Mountains

Luo Fei looked at the direction in which the police car was going away, and began to sort out the thoughts in his head. The cliff falling incident—Professor of the Academy of Fine Arts—Kurmusi Temple, this is the effective clue he has so far. As for the strange words Zhang Bin said at the end, Luo Fei is still unable to judge whether they are valuable.What is certain is that there will never be ghosts. The so-called "headless ghost" is probably Zhang Bin's imagination or illusion that appeared under extremely nervous conditions. Generally speaking, any fantasies and illusions will not be created out of thin air, and at least two conditions must be met on the person concerned:

1. Extreme physical and mental states, such as fear, fatigue, tension, etc.; Second, a special psychological suggestion. Luo Fei was very interested in the "murderous painting" that Zhang Bin mentioned before he fell into a coma. He believed that it was most likely the psychological source of Zhang Bin's delusions or illusions.However, whether these are intrinsically linked to the cliff-fall incident can only be answered after the facts are fully clarified. After a short thought, Luo Fei has decided on a preliminary investigation idea: 1. Learn about the situation of the parties from the Academy of Fine Arts;

2. Organizing rescue work; 3. Go up the mountain to investigate the scene of the crime and investigate the details. After thinking about this, Luo Fei suddenly felt a chill from the back of his neck.His heart moved, and he looked up at the sky. Pieces of snow fluttered and fell in front of his eyes, and the first snow of this year finally arrived. Luo Fei returned to the office, and after a lot of twists and turns, he finally contacted the person in charge of the Academy of Fine Arts by phone, and the other party immediately started to understand the situation.While waiting for feedback, Luo Fei called the deputy director of the case, Wang Yifei, and asked him to start organizing relevant work immediately and prepare to go into the mountains to search for victims after dawn.

As soon as he put down the phone, it rang. The person who called was Ling Yongsheng, the dean of the Academy of Fine Arts. He provided Luo Fei with the following information. There are three people who went up the mountain to sketch together, they are: Zhang Bin, 45 years old, male, professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts; Chen Jian, 45 years old, male, associate professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts; Hu Junkai, 48 years old, male, professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts. These three are the art backbone of the academy. Now one of them is in the hospital, one fell off a cliff, and the other's condition is unknown. From Ling Yongsheng's tone, it is obvious that the academy is also very anxious about this.

In addition to the reporter and the person who fell off the cliff, there was Hu Junkai who went up the mountain together, which was beyond Luo Fei's expectation.He remembered Zhang Bin's words before he fell into a coma. "The fierce painting...they...they opened that...the murderous painting..." Does the "they" in this sentence refer to Chen Jian and Hu Junkai? Is Hu Junkai another witness to the cliff fall incident? Where is he now? This series of questions appeared in Luo Fei's mind, and the most feasible way to solve these questions was to arrive at the scene of the crime at Kumusi Temple as soon as possible.

Luo Fei decided to go up the mountain immediately. According to Luo Fei's experience, as soon as it snows, the temperature in the mountains will drop by at least ten degrees.It was too late to go home to add clothes, so he came to the reception room and borrowed a military coat from Master Zheng. Master Zheng knew that there was a case, so he never touched the bed. "Luo Suo, are you going up the mountain?" he asked. Luo Fei hummed and put on his coat. Master Zheng: "This black light is blind, the mountain road is not easy to walk, can't wait for dawn?" "It's too late." Luo Fei took two steps outside the door, then turned around and asked, "When Zhou Ping comes back, ask him to contact me on the walkie-talkie. There is no phone call yet on the mountain."

"Understood. You have to be careful yourself." Master Zheng said with concern. Luo Fei nodded, and quickly walked towards the mountain. At this time, the snow was getting heavier and heavier, and in the blink of an eye, Luo Fei's figure had faded into the silvery white flying all over the sky. Withered Wood Temple is the largest temple in the mountain area under Luo Fei's jurisdiction, and there are a total of thirty-two monks registered in the temple.In the first half of the year, Luo Fei went to the monastery for a routine inspection. At that time, Abbot Kong Jing received him. In his impression, he was a short and thin old monk.

After entering the mountain pass, the wind was obviously stronger.The dense snowflakes rolled towards Luo Fei, he could only squint his eyes, and walked forward with difficulty against the wind and snow. Soon, the rugged and difficult mountain road was covered with a layer of slippery snow, and Luo Fei had no choice but to move forward more slowly.On such a road, blind acceleration is not only dangerous, but also consumes a lot of energy in vain. When the snow piled up to more than two inches high, there was a hint of whiteness in the sky.Luo Fei looked at his watch, it was already past five o'clock in the morning, and he was only halfway through the journey.It was useless to be anxious, so he simply found a place to take shelter from the wind and rested for a while, and only started on the road again after his physical strength recovered.And the snowflakes were flying all over the sky accompanied by the cold wind, showing no sign of weakening at all.

The road behind became more and more difficult to walk, Luo Fei stopped and stopped until it was nearly seven o'clock, and finally saw the gate of Kumusi Temple. Two monks were standing on the porch looking towards the mountain road, as if they were waiting for someone.After discovering Luo Fei, the two kept staring at him intently. Luo Fei got closer and closer, and he also used this time to look him up and down. The older of the two monks is about 1.65 meters tall, in his fifties, with his eyebrows tightly locked, and looks full of thoughts.The other person was shorter, with a childish face, and he could be seen as a child of fifteen or sixteen years old.The little monk was quite handsome, with a witty look on his brows.

Luo Fei went to the porch, and while patting the snow from his hair and clothes, he said to the older monk, "Abbot Kong Jing, don't you know me?" Kong Jing stared at Luo Fei's face, trying to identify it.It wasn't until Luo Fei wiped away the snow from his hair and the corners of his eyebrows that he suddenly realized, and while making a bow, he yelled, "Oh, Director Luo, you've finally come. Hard work, it's a success!" A snowman." "I don't think it's easy for you, haven't you slept all night?" Luo Fei noticed that Kong Jing's eyes were bloodshot.

"When something like this happens, how can we still sleep, human life is at stake!" After Kong Jing said this, she turned to the little monk beside her: "Shunde, go get a dry towel and let Director Luo wipe it off." Wet your hair." Shunde agreed, and trotted away. Kong Jing had a bitter face: "Director Luo, what should we do now?" "Take me to the accident site first, and talk while walking." "Okay." Kong Jing turned around and walked into the temple, Luo Fei followed closely behind him. The main building of Kumusi Temple is divided into front and back, forming a "day" shape in structure.Adjacent to the temple gate in the front yard are several guest rooms; on both sides of the yard are the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower, each with two floors; facing the temple gate are the main hall and the practice room. The most eye-catching thing in the front yard is the thousand-year-old withered pine tree, and the name of the temple is also derived from it.Although the dry pine has a huge trunk, there is only an empty shell left.According to legend, the pine tree suffered a lightning strike during its prime and was nearly split in two from head to toe.The lightning strike also ignited the fire, which burned the upper and lower branches and leaves, leaving only a layer of half-charred trunk.Miraculously, in the spring of the next year, new branches sprouted from the body. It turns out that the tree is not dead yet.The new branches grow more and more, although they can no longer be as lush as before the catastrophe, but they contrast with the withered and empty trunk, revealing a different kind of tenacious vitality. From the moment you enter the temple gate, the corridor runs through all the buildings in the front yard.Kong Jing led Luo Fei across the corridor to the backyard. Although the snowflakes outside were big, none of them fell on them. The backyard is the boarding and lodging area for the monks in the temple, and the house is much simpler than the front yard.A circle of bungalows was divided into more than a dozen huts, and there was a small release pond in the courtyard. During the walk, Kong Jing briefly explained to Luo Fei what he knew about the incident: "These three guests came to stay in the temple yesterday evening. I asked Shunde to arrange for them to stay, and I didn't pay much attention to it. In the middle of the night, there was a voice calling for help from behind the temple, and when we rushed over, a guest had already fallen off the cliff, and only his two companions were standing on the mountain road in panic." "So these two people should have seen the process of the incident?" "probably." "Then what did they say?" Kong Jing was stunned for a moment: "At that time, I didn't have time to ask in detail. One of them immediately went down the mountain to call the police, and the other was busy going down the valley to save people." "Oh? You have already gone down to the valley to search and rescue?" "I sent people down." Kong Jing's expression was a little helpless, "But this valley is too deep, and the mountain road is not easy to walk. In addition, it started to snow in the middle of the night...Actually, according to my opinion, even if we can find people, it's not too late. big meaning..." Luo Fei's heart tightened, he understood the meaning of Kong Jing's last words. At this time, Shunde came over with a towel.Luo Fei took the towel and wiped it twice, then asked, "Where is that Hu Junkai now?" "Who?" Kong Jing looked a little dazed. "It's the one you said you wanted to go down the mountain to save people." Luo Fei couldn't help feeling secretly dissatisfied. It had happened for such a long time, and Kong Jing, the abbot, not only couldn't provide any useful clues, even the names of these three people were still missing. have no idea. "Oh, that tall guest...he fell ill and is lying in the guest room." Kong Jing said while looking at Shun De beside him as if asking for proof. Shunde immediately added bluntly: "He got separated from everyone on the way down the valley. He started to have a fever when he returned to the temple alone in the early morning, probably because he was frozen." Luo Fei looked a little serious. With such a heavy snowfall, it was not easy to take a patient down the mountain, and the medical conditions on the mountain were obviously very limited. "How about we go to see him first?" Kong Jing suggested. Luo Fei nodded in agreement. The three returned to the front yard.In front of Hu Junkai's guest room, a young monk who was about the same age as Shunde was leaning outside the door with his arms folded. Seeing the emptiness, he quickly stood up properly. "I asked you to take care of the guests, why did you come outside?" Kong Jing asked the little monk, with some blame in his tone. "He fell asleep, I'll come out to get some air." The little monk lowered his head. Kong Jing didn't say anything else, gently opened the door, and walked into the guest room with Luo Fei.Shunde gloated and made a face at the little monk. A middle-aged man was lying on the bed in the guest room, probably Hu Junkai. Luo Fei walked closer, only to see Hu Junkai with his eyes closed tightly, his face turned yellow, and he seemed to be seriously ill. Kong Jing looked at Luo Fei: "Do you want to wake him up and ask about the situation?" Luo Fei waved his hand: "Forget it, let him rest first." Then he turned his head and asked the little monk just now: "What's your name?" "Shunhe." Luo Fei nodded: "Take care of the patient with all your heart, and notify me immediately when he wakes up." Shunhe said "hmm", looking very honest. "Let's go to the place where the accident happened in the back mountain first." Luo Fei was talking, and he had already stepped out of the house. The group of three soon came to the back door of the temple, Kong Jing pushed the door open, and a small mountain road appeared outside the door. The mountain road is about two meters wide. The left side of the road is a hard and cold cliff, and the right side is close to a bottomless cliff.The path makes a moderate turn along the mountain 20 meters away from the temple. "Where does this road lead to?" Luo Fei didn't know that there was such a road behind the Dead Wood Temple before. Since the road has no slope, it is obviously not a passage for going up or down the mountain. "There's a hut ahead, you'll see it when you turn the corner." Kong Jing said while leading the way. Sure enough, as soon as he turned the corner, he saw a hut built against the mountain at the end of the road not far away.The wooden hut was obviously built with local materials. At this time, it stood alone in the wind and snow. The vicissitudes of life on the wooden wall seem to want to tell the visitors the years it has witnessed. Kong Jing stopped two or three meters away from the corner near the hut: "That person probably fell from here." "What are they doing on the mountain road behind the temple in the middle of the night?" Luo Fei naturally had this doubt. Kong Jing looked a little embarrassed under Luo Fei's gaze: "The three of them lived in this hut last night." "Why is this? Are the guest rooms in the front yard full?" "The guest room is empty... It was arranged by the head of the family at that time. I... I don't know the specific situation." Kong Jing's answer was a little hesitant, and he also realized that if the three guests lived in the temple, the falling The cliff incident may not have happened. Luo Fei frowned in dissatisfaction. Such an arrangement is indeed inappropriate, but the most important thing now is not to pursue who is responsible, but to understand how things happened. Due to the heavy snowfall, the traces left on the road at the time of the incident could not be identified (in fact, even if there is no snow, it is difficult to leave traces such as footprints on the hard stone road). Luo Fei cautiously walked to the edge of the cliff, leaned forward and looked down the cliff.There are a small amount of withered shrubs growing at the mouth of the cliff, just below the soles of Luo Fei's feet, and the shrubs have obvious signs of being crushed. From this, Luo Fei judges that the place where he is standing now is the exact place when the incident happened . In Luo Fei's sight, the mountain walls in the valley were extremely steep, except for those shrubs, they were all exposed hard rocks.Now, he began to truly understand the meaning of Kong Jing's words: "...Even if we can find someone, it doesn't make much sense..." Luo Fei retreated to the mountain road, pretending to be pondering, Kong Jing and Shun De dared not speak out, for fear of interrupting his train of thought. After a while, Luo Fei said, "When you arrived, were Zhang Bin and Hu Junkai standing here?" Kong Jing nodded: "Yes." "Then did you pay attention to what they were wearing at the time?" "Wearing?" Kong Jing frowned, as if trying to remember. "I was asking if they were wearing coats." Kong Jing replied very positively: "I have worn it." On such a cold early winter night, several parties dressed up and came outside the house. What did they want to do?From then on, Luo Fei began to believe that this fall off the cliff was probably not accidental.He remembered the strange words Zhang Bin had said before he fell into a coma. "Have you ever heard Zhang Bin mention the 'headless ghost'?" "Headless ghost?" Kong Jing looked blank, but Shun De immediately raised his eyes and looked at Luo Fei. Luo Fei twitched his lips helplessly. As a policeman, it felt absurd to say such a thing: "Yes, Zhang Bin said when he reported the incident that he saw a 'headless ghost' at the scene of the incident. .” When Shunde heard this sentence, he couldn't help but let out a soft "ah", and Luo Fei's sharp eyes immediately shot towards him: "What's wrong? Have you heard of it?" Shunde's answer surprised Luo Fei: "I told them about the 'headless ghost' first, why...how did they really see it?" "Aren't you talking nonsense?" Kong Jing scolded slightly, "Where is there a 'headless ghost'?" "Really, I've seen it." After all, Shunde was still a child, and he seemed anxious and aggrieved at this moment. "Yeah." Luo Fei looked at Shunde, "Tell me what's going on." Shunde turned his gaze to the wooden house not far away, and it could be seen that he was gradually falling into some kind of horrible memory. "The 'headless ghost' I saw appeared in this room." He said. "What?" Kong Jing and Luo Fei turned around at the same time, and involuntarily took half a step away from the wooden house. But this sudden sense of fear only flashed in Luo Fei's heart, and he quickly calmed down: "Go ahead and talk in more detail." "It was one night last week. I caught a cold and had a stomachache. I fell asleep halfway and got up to go to the toilet to relieve myself. Unfortunately, the only squatting seat in the toilet was occupied by a brother. I couldn't wait, so I had to go out the back door , I wanted to find a remote place to make do with it. It was a cloudy day, and the surroundings were pitch black. After I squatted down, I realized that there was actually a glimmer of light in this hut that had never been inhabited." Luo Fei: "Is it candlelight? Is someone inside?" "It's not candlelight." Shunde's voice began to tremble slightly, "The light was very weak, dark red. Then I found that there were wisps of smoke on the window. Soon the smoke became thicker and thicker. It has already filled the whole room. At that time, I thought it was a fire, and I was about to shout, when suddenly a black shadow appeared from the smoke. At first, the shadow was just a black mass, and as the smoke got thicker, it gradually disappeared. Stretched out from the ground, it became a headless humanoid!" It's like something out of a ghost novel.Luo Fei really couldn't admit its authenticity, but Shunde's demeanor didn't look like he was lying. Kong Jing shook his head slightly, apparently unable to accept Shunde's description just now: "Did you go into the house to see what's going on?" "I... I dare not, I fled back to the temple before I even had time to wipe my butt." "Let's go, let's go into the house now." Luo Fei made such a decision naturally. The three of them walked towards the hut, and no one spoke on the way. In the quiet snow, the wooden hut revealed a strange atmosphere. The hut is backed against the mountain wall, about fifteen square meters in size.Since the accident last night, no one has entered, so the door of the house still remains ajar.Luo Fei, who was walking in the front, stretched out his hand and pushed the door open, and the door frame made a soft "squeak", which sounded like a long moan. Although it was daytime, because the hut was built with backlight, the light in the house was very dim. Luo Fei and others walked in from the bright snow, and their eyesight was a little uncomfortable for a while. Shunde followed behind the two, looking trembling, as if he was still haunted by that horrible memory. The furnishings in the room are very simple: there is a plan and a matching chair near the door, and a single bed is placed diagonally opposite the door against the wall. The floor beside the bed is obviously added temporarily for The two lay down to rest.The quilts on the bed and on the floor were opened loosely, giving people the feeling that the resident had just gotten up. There were many picture scrolls piled up on the plan, Luo Fei picked up one of them and opened it.This is a black-and-white landscape painting signed "Monk Kongwang". Kong Jing moved his face to the painting for a glance, and said, "My junior brother used to live in this hut. He likes to paint, and these are all his handwriting." It can be seen that a thick layer of dust has accumulated on the scroll. Although it was wiped not long ago, the dirt on the corners shows that the wiping was not meticulous. A display under the window in the house caught Luo Fei's attention. It was a small stove. According to Shunde, the "headless shadow" appeared mysteriously in the smoke, so is this stove the source of the smoke? Luo Fei walked up to observe carefully.The stove looked very old, and beside it stood a small pile of kindling coals, which were covered with dust.Looking in from the furnace mouth, a lot of ash has accumulated in the furnace, and it is difficult to tell whether it is a product of recent combustion from the color. "Is this house usually lived in?" Luo Fei asked. "No." Kong Jing replied, "Actually, since Junior Brother Kong Wang moved into the temple, no one has lived here, probably seven or eight years." "Has this stove always been here before?" "Yeah, this stove has been around for quite some time." Kong Jing took two steps closer and looked up and down the stove. It was obvious from his expression that he also connected the stove with the smoke that Shunde said. Shunde suddenly called out "Oops". Luo Fei immediately turned his head: "What's wrong?" "That, that is..." Shunde pointed to something on the floor. It was a rectangular empty box.Luo Fei leaned down to pick it up, only to see that there was still a piece of paper half-glued to the box, on which was written in bright red letters: "Zhengming Sealing Murder was painted on May 2, 1972". "A fierce painting?!" Luo Fei suddenly remembered what Zhang Bin said before he had a heart attack, and couldn't help but read out loud. "They...they watched the 'Bad Picture'." Shunde seemed a little flustered. Kong Jing walked forward, took the box from Luo Fei, shook his head again and again, with an anxious and annoyed look: "It's broken, it's broken! This is the seal my master put on, how can they..." Obviously, there should have been a painting sealed in the box, and this painting seemed to have some extraordinary meaning. Luo Fei frowned and asked, "What's going on?" "There should have been a painting by Kong Wang." Kong Jing explained, "It is said that this painting has a fierce look and is very unlucky, so my master sealed it with a box back then, and strictly prohibited everyone in the temple to open it. " Luo Fei shook his head in bewilderment, unable to think of what kind of concept "the painting has a fierce look". Kong Jing saw Luo Fei's doubts, and continued: "Even I don't know what the painting is about. Apart from my master Zhengming, the only one who has seen this painting is the younger brother himself." "Where did the painting go, you don't even know yet?" Luo Fei said, looking at Kong Jing and Shunde with questioning eyes. Both master and apprentice shook their heads at the same time. "Then where is Kong Wang? Hurry up and find him, what happened last night is probably related to this painting." Luo Fei said with a serious expression. Shunde seemed frightened by Luo Fei's words, and his face turned pale.Kong Jing looked embarrassed, and said: "My junior brother started to practice meditation behind closed doors a while ago, and I haven't shown up for half a month..." Luo Fei interrupted him: "He's not going out, let's go find him. Shunde, take me there." Shunde seemed to realize the importance of the matter, he glanced at Kong Jing, and then led Luo Fei out of the house. Kong Jing sighed helplessly and followed. The three came to the backyard, and Kong Wang lived in the second room in the east.Kong Jing took two steps forward and grabbed Luo Fei: "Director Luo, please wait a moment." Then he said to Shunde: "Go and talk to your uncle, and see if he can break this rule." Luo Fei stopped, and Shunde came to the closed door alone, knocked on the door lightly, and called out: "Uncle Master!" Seeing that there was no response from inside, he raised his voice and called out again. The room was still silent.Shunde scratched his head strangely: "What's going on?" After that, he seemed to think of something, went to the window sill, pulled the window frame, and sure enough, the window was not closed, and opened outward with a soft sound. Shunde slanted his body, looking into the room with his head probed.Suddenly, he screamed, his legs went limp, and he sat down on the ground. "What's wrong?" Luo Fei walked quickly to the window, the scene in front of him made him gasp: in a dark room, a dead body was hanging from the beam, and those wide-open eyes were staring out of the window. , seems to have been waiting for their arrival.