Chapter 9 Chapter 8 The Walking Corpse

At noon, when Zhou Ping and others were still trekking down the mountainside in the wind and snow, Luo Fei was enjoying a hot lunch in the Dead Wood Temple.Although I ate some unsatisfactory vegetables, I finally filled my stomach in time. For the monks in the monastery, fasting is also a daily routine, and they have to recite scriptures and meditate in groups before and after fasting.Luo Fei didn't want to disturb him, so he brought his own food and ate it in the side room.Kong Jing asked Shunde to take care of Luo Fei's diet, and Shunde seemed to be Director Luo's little follower.

Luo Fei has long seen that although the little monk is clever, he is very timid.He happened to know all about the series of strange things that happened in the temple.After being frightened several times, Shunde also looked absent-minded and terrified when he and Luo Fei were eating face to face, and later, he shed tears when he thought about it. "What's wrong with you?" Luo Fei put down his chopsticks, feeling a little strange in his heart. Shunde sobbed softly: "I didn't listen to... my uncle's words, now... now I have caused a big disaster..." "Your uncle? Kong Wang? What did he say to you?" Luo Fei frowned, he would not let go of any hidden clues.

Shunde wiped his eyes, trying to stop his sobs: "Last night when I delivered the meal to Master Kong Wang, the master told me behind the window, asking me to tell the guests who live in the hut, don't put The sealed 'murderous painting' is opened." "Didn't your uncle stay behind closed doors? How did he know that someone lived in the hut behind the temple?" "I told him. Those guests had seen my uncle's paintings and admired them very much. They wanted to see my uncle. That Hu Junkai also gave me a business card and asked me to give it to my uncle."

"You didn't listen to the uncle? That means you didn't tell Hu Junkai and them?" Shunde nodded: "I didn't expect them to find the 'murderous painting' at all, so I didn't pay much attention to what my uncle said, and I forgot it after eating. Now it's a big disaster, and they released the evil in the painting. Ghost. It must be because of this reason that my uncle...he hanged himself..." At this point, the little monk blamed himself very much, and his words were filled with tears. "What evil spirit? It's just nonsense." With a reprimand, Junpei walked in.

Shunde immediately stopped speaking, and lowered his head in panic. "How can Director Luo believe your nonsense. Take these tableware to the kitchen." Shunping looked a little annoyed, but in fact, there was displeasure in Shunping's eyes when Kongjing arranged for Shunde to be in charge of Luo Fei's meals Luo Fei noticed all of these expressions. Under Shunping's majesty, Shunde didn't dare to say anything, packed up the tableware and went out.Seeing him walking away, Shunping sat down in front of Luo Fei and said seriously: "Director Luo, I want to tell you something."

Luo Fei nodded: "Speak." "Director Luo, what do you think about the theft in the temple?" Luo Fei was taken aback, he didn't expect that he was going to talk about this matter, and said a little displeased: "What can I think now? I don't understand the situation at all." "This... Director Luo, we didn't report the crime, but it was actually a last resort." Shunping tried to smooth things over for himself in embarrassment. The theft is insignificant compared to the current murder case, but Shunping brought it up at this time, Luo Fei couldn't figure out his intention for the time being, so he decided to deal with it first: "When did the case happen? How big is the loss?"

"Just in the last month. I can't tell the exact amount of the loss, and I can't estimate the price of some antiques. The weather was good that time, and there were a lot of pilgrims who came to the temple, and they often stayed overnight. I didn't expect to lose things for several days in a row. At this point, Shunping suddenly looked at Luo Fei, and changed the topic, "However, such things as stealing are likely to be done by internal thieves in the temple." Luo Fei gathered his eyes and looked at Shunping suddenly, the other party obviously had something hidden in his words!

Shunping met Luo Fei's gaze, and seemed to be thinking about Luo Fei's thoughts: "I don't know what Director Luo thinks?" Luo Fei was silent for a moment: "I don't want to ask about things that have nothing to do with the current case." Shunping said "Oh" noncommittally: "Then I'll go first." Then without waiting for Luo Fei to agree, he stood up on his own and walked outside the house. Luo Fei frowned and looked at his back. In this monastery, apart from the successive murders, there seemed to be another incongruous atmosphere.

After that, Luo Fei spent the entire afternoon waiting and thinking.Faced with all kinds of strange things happening in the temple, Luo Fei couldn't help feeling a little at a loss.Without the support of criminal investigators, it is really unclear where to start further work.Perhaps Zhou Ping's investigation in the periphery could give him some hints, but Luo Fei tried several times to get in touch with Zhou Ping, but the other party was not in the signal area. During this period, various rumors about several deaths began to spread in the temple, including exaggerations of such horror plots as "headless ghost" and "murderous painting".Although everything seemed to be calm on the surface, from the strange eyes of some monks, Luo Fei keenly sensed a terrifying emotion that had grown on a large scale.

Kong Jing also felt the existence of this emotion, he guarded Luo Fei with a sad face, as if he regarded him as his only hope.At this time in the temple, another person who could keep calm was Junpei. He resolutely forbade all the monks in the temple to continue discussing the topics related to these incidents.This move has played a part in controlling the development of panic. It was in this state that the sky gradually darkened, and Luo Fei ushered in his first dark night after going up the mountain. After nightfall, the snowflakes are still flying all over the sky, and there is no tendency to decrease.

If the snow can stop before dawn tomorrow, people can be immediately organized to clear the snow-sealed mountain road.Even according to this most optimistic estimate, the reinforcements would not arrive until two days later.Luo Fei had a vague premonition of uneasiness, what would happen in these two days? When Luo Fei was about to get in touch with Zhou Ping again, a very bad situation happened: his walkie-talkie was out of battery.Luo Fei felt very annoyed, which meant that the mountain and the mountain had completely lost contact since then, and Zhou Ping's work in the periphery had no meaning until the backup went up the mountain.Luo Fei was deeply annoyed that he didn't bring the charger with him, but how could he have thought that he would be trapped in this lonely temple? The night in the mountains is very quiet.After ten o'clock in the evening, the monks went back to their houses one after another to go to bed. Luo Fei didn't sleep all night, and because of the hard work of climbing the mountain in the early morning, he was already tired. The backyard of Kumusi Temple is surrounded by dormitories for monks. Except for Kong Jing, Shunping, and the dead Kong Wang, who live alone, the rest of the monks live in the same room.In addition to this, there are two guest rooms in the front yard.Hu Junkai's body is now placed in the room in the east, and Luo Fei lives in the west. Shunping asked Shunhe to live with Luo Fei so that he could obey orders at any time.Luo Fei was quite satisfied with this arrangement, it prevented him from being alone in the same courtyard with a dead person, which made people feel a little awkward—although he was not afraid of anything. Luo Fei sat down on the bed by the west side, just about to undress and rest, Shun He looked at him, and said hesitantly, "Director Luo...can we change the bed?" "Change the bed?" Luo Fei looked around the small hut, in his eyes there was really no difference between the two beds. "My bed...is next to the room on the east side..." "Oh." Luo Fei understood, the bed on the east side of the room and the bed where Hu Junkai's body was parked were only separated by a wall, no wonder Shun He felt scrupulous. "Come on, you can sleep here." Luo Fei beckoned, "It is really wronging you to ask you to come and accompany me." "It's okay." Shunhe and Luo Fei changed beds, and smiled a little embarrassedly, "Shunde is called unlucky." "Why?" Luo Fei looked at Shun He puzzled. "In the past, he and I lived in the same room. Now he can only live alone. Master Kong Wang's room is next to ours. Think about it, there is such a horrible corpse hanging next door. Are you sure?" Luo Fei nodded, indeed, that timid monk might have a difficult night. At this time, no one will realize how terrible and dangerous Shunde is in. Everything is silent, it seems that everyone has been immersed in sleep. Suddenly, a piercing cry pierced the night, the cry was full of fear, almost inhuman! Luo Fei woke up from a deep sleep, sat up suddenly, and listened attentively, the mournful echo still lingered in the valley, reminding him that this was not a hallucination in a dream. "Something happened!" Luo Feila turned on the light, and glanced at the watch beside the pillow, the time was 2:25 in the morning. Shun He also woke up, his voice trembling slightly: "It came from... the backyard." Luo Fei put on his clothes as quickly as possible, and went out to the backyard.At this time, the snow seems to be a little smaller, but the sky and the earth are still full of white and shining colors. When Luo Fei arrived at the backyard, the lights of many dormitories here were turned on one after another.Some nimble monks had already opened the door and walked into the yard. When they looked at the place where the cry was made just now, they were all frightened and froze in place. The cry came from the house in Dongshou.The second room over there was dark, and it was the place where Kong Wang hanged himself.Now, the door of this room is wide open, and a line of clear footprints extends from the door to the window of the third room.The person at the end of the footprints is lying on the window sill, as if looking into the house through the open window, and seems to be tired from walking and wants to take a break. It was this man who brought an indescribable terror on everyone's faces.Even Luo Fei felt a bone-piercing coolness leaking from the pores all over his body. Under the reflection of the lights and the color of the snow, one can clearly see that the person who walked past a room and is now leaning on the window sill is unexpectedly hanging on the beams of the roof for a whole day! The terrifying atmosphere froze the air in the yard, everyone stood dumbfounded, and for a moment no one even dared to step forward to see what happened. Junpei and Kong Jing stood at the west end of the yard, also with incredible expressions on their faces.After there were more people, a few brave monks came back to their senses first. Some people approached the room a few steps and called Shunde's name loudly, but there was no response from the room. "Stay in your own room." Luo Fei scolded, "No one is allowed to walk around casually!" "Yes, don't spoil the scene!" Junpei echoed.Kong Jing beside him recovered a little after realizing Luo Fei's arrival. Luo Fei walked up to them and asked, "Is that the house where Shunde lives?" Kong Jing nodded, rubbing his hands at a loss: "This...what's going on? How could Kong Wang's corpse..." It is too early to draw any conclusions just by observing from a distance. "I'll go over to see the situation first." Luo Fei took two steps forward, thought for a while, stopped again, and turned around and said, "You two come together, follow my footsteps, don't leave too much trouble for the scene Mark of." The three bypassed the area near the Kongwang dormitory, and walked step by step from the other side to the Shunde dormitory.Kong Wang lay quietly on the window, just like yesterday morning, as if he had been waiting for their arrival. Luo Fei stepped forward and gently pushed him with his hand.Kong Wang didn't move at all, the muscles all over his body were already stiff, it was clearly a corpse that had been dead for a long time. But the corpse ran from the hanging beam of one room to the window of another room, leaving a series of clear footprints behind it! The lights were on in the room, Luo Fei looked in through the window, and saw Shun De sitting on the ground facing the window. Luo Fei walked to the door, pushed the door panel with his hands, and the door was fastened from the inside.The window was open, but to get in through it, the corpse of Kong Wang had to be moved.He weighed it and decided to force the door open. So he took two steps back, and kicked heavily on the door bolt.The door was not very strong, and it bounced inward immediately.Luo Fei and the three walked into the house. Shunde sat with his back against the edge of the bed less than two meters away from the window, his eyes wide open.His face was contorted with extreme fear, his mouth was opened wide, but he could no longer make any sound. Luo Fei stepped forward, knelt down and probed Shunde's nostril with his right index finger, and said in a calm voice, "He's dead." Kong Jing followed behind Luo Fei, shaking his head blankly, as if he couldn't accept the fact that happened in front of him. Junpei stood in the room, looking around calmly.In the end, he stared at Kong Wang's corpse poking in from the window, and said in a calm voice, "Shunde was scared to death by him." This is exactly the conclusion Luo Fei wants to draw. There are two single beds facing each other in the room, the one next to the north wall, the bedding on the bed is neatly folded, it should be where Shun He usually sleeps.The quilts on the bed against the south wall were scattered in a tube shape, and the coats that Shunde had taken off were piled inside.Luo Fei stretched his hand under the quilt, and could still feel the remaining body heat. The tables, chairs, cabinets and stools in the house are all as usual, and there is no sign of any struggle.Shunde was only wearing underwear and had no scars on his body, but his expression was extremely frightened, his pupils shrank, and his eyes were fixed on Kong Wang who was crouching on the window sill. "Where is the light switch in this house?" Luo Fei asked suddenly. Kong Jing pointed to a guy wire hanging from the head of the bed on the side of the guide, which happened to be above Shun De's body. "That's right. Judging from the situation at the scene, we can basically guess the course of the incident in this way." Luo Fei said, reaching out to turn off the light.Then he began to describe, "I was sleeping, and suddenly I was awakened by a strange noise. So I got out of bed with my shoes on, and wanted to turn on the light to check. When I came to the bedside, I found and pulled the light switch. What I saw was a horrific scene: a dead body was lying on the open window sill, as if it was about to crawl into the house! My legs were weak, and I sat on the ground, making a horrible cry. Due to the rapid adrenaline hormone Secreted, resulting in instantaneous cardiac insufficiency, which led to my sudden death. Now, everyone can experience my feelings at that time." After saying this, Luo Fei paused for a moment.When silence and darkness enveloped the whole room, he suddenly pulled the light switch, and the uninvited guest at the window was immediately exposed to pale light. Although he was mentally prepared, Kong Wang's terrifying face still made the backs of the three people in the room tingle.Probably because it was hung for too long, Kong Wang's head was tilted upwards. Although he was lying on the window sill, his blood-red eyes were staring straight at the room. The expression is simply overwhelming! "What...what's going on here!" Kong Jing said with a trembling voice, "Junior brother's body is hanging in the next room, and no one has touched him, how could he... run here by himself?" "A corpse that can run." Luo Fei muttered, "Have you ever seen a corpse that can run?" Kong Jing and Shunping looked at each other, not knowing how to answer. Luo Fei didn't seem to be asking them, he walked to the yard on his own, staring at the footprints extending from the door of Kongwang House to the body of the corpse. The footprints are deeply sunken in the soft snow, and every step is so clear, as if the "squeak" of the snow-stomping sound left by the owner who is still frozen when he just walked by. Luo Fei thought for a moment, walked to Kong Wang's body and squatted down, gently took off a monk's shoe from his foot, held it in his hand and looked at it carefully. There are a small amount of fresh snow on the bottom of the monk shoes and on both sides of the upper, and it is true that they have just stepped on the snow. Luo Fei walked up to the string of footprints again, he knelt down and looked closely: the edges of the footprints were smooth and smooth, and it was certain that they were traces left by a trampling.Putting monk shoes in the footprints, they fit perfectly! Could it be that this series of mysterious footprints were really left by the dead on the windowsill? Luo Fei told himself firmly in his heart time and time again: "This is absolutely impossible!" But he really couldn't give other explanations. Except for the few footprints left by the three of Luo Fei and the monks in front of their respective houses, there is only this single line of one-way footprints left on the snow in the huge courtyard, and this line of footprints really came from Yu Kong forgot the monk shoes on his feet! Kong Jing and Shunping stared at Luo Fei intently. The two of them, and even the monks in the whole temple, might be puzzled by the same question at the moment.Fear seized everyone's heart deeply!