Chapter 11 Chapter Ten Headless Weed

After surveying the footprints on the snow, Luo Fei went into the house where Kong Wang lived for the second time, trying to find some clues that could explain the mysterious "walking" of the corpse. But the result was disappointing.Aside from the fact that the body was no longer in its place, the house was unchanged from yesterday morning when he first inspected it.He had no choice but to ask Shunping to find someone to move the body back to the house first, while he went to the first witnesses to find out the situation. Kongming is considered one of the few senior monks in Gumu Temple, but because he is not outstanding in all aspects, people usually pay little attention to him.But today, he came to the abbot's empty room. Director Luo Fei of the Yamashita Police Station wanted to listen to his narration, because he was the first person to walk into the courtyard when the death in Shunde happened.He described the situation as follows:

"My kidneys are not very good, and I have frequent urination. I have to wake up two or three times at night. Last night, I slept halfway, and was woken up by urination. I had no choice but to put on my coat and get out of bed. I Turn on the light, drag out the urinal from under the bed, and just halfway through it, I suddenly heard someone yelling. The sound sounded terrible in the silent night, I was so frightened that I shivered, and even held back my urine. I bravely walked out of the door and looked in the direction where the voice came from just now. I saw a person lying on the window of the dormitory where Shunde lived. At that time, my first reaction was that there was a thief, but then I realized that something was wrong. That person The footprints behind me turned out to be extending from the room next door to Kong Wang. I took a closer look and was almost scared to sit on the ground. The person on the window turned out to be the dead Kong Wang! After that, my mind was filled with Blank, standing in the same place blankly, unable to move his legs and feet. Later, the lights in each house were turned on one after another, and everyone seemed to run to the yard, and then I heard the head of the house, Shunping, telling everyone to go back to their own house, no Just move around."

"How far is the place where you go from the dormitory in Shunde?" Luo Fei started to ask after listening to him. "Our dormitories are all in the same row, separated by two rooms, the distance should not exceed ten meters." "How was the light in the yard when you walked out of the house?" "It's not very dark in the snow, and the lights in Shunde's house are shining through the windows. It should be said that at least the light around the house is good." Luo Fei stared at Kong Ming: "Then are you sure that when you came out of the house, there was no one else in the yard, especially near the house where Shunde lived?"

"Probably not." Kong Ming thought for a while, and added, "I can be sure that there is no one near the Shunde dormitory. Because as soon as I entered the courtyard, I immediately looked in that direction, and I definitely didn't see anyone. " Luo Fei nodded: "Let's do this first. You can go back. If you think of anything else, come and tell me right away." Shun Hui, who lived in the same room with Kong Ming, also gave a basically consistent testimony: "When Kong Ming got up from the bed, I was woken up by him. But at that time I was in a daze, and I didn't open my eyes. The scream after that really frightened me a lot. I fell asleep all of a sudden and sat up immediately. Kong Ming also looked terrified. To tell you the truth, he trembled so much at that time. We splashed all the urine on the floor. The two of us looked at each other in shock for a while, and then I started to get dressed, and he opened the door alone to check. When I went out, no one else came out, only Kong Ming was stunned. I stood there on the ground. I followed his gaze, and my heart almost popped out of my mouth in fright! What are you talking about? I really dare not stay in this temple any longer It's..."

"What nonsense?" Kong Jing interrupted him, "Things will definitely be cleared up, with Director Luo here, what trouble can happen?" Having said that, Kong Jing also seemed to have no confidence in his eyes and tone. When Shun Hui opened the door to leave, Shun Ping just walked in, holding a bunch of things in his hand, with a serious expression on his face. "How?" He looked at Luo Fei and Kong Jing in the room with questioning eyes, "Any clues?" Luo Fei rested his forehead on his hands, shaking his head slowly.What Kong Ming and Shun Hui said just now only further confirmed the complexity of the incident.

Junpei sat down at the table, was silent for a moment, and said, "I do have some ideas, maybe now is the time to talk." "Huh?" Luo Fei raised his head and looked at him with piercing eyes, "What do you think?" "Some things I said before, don't say you won't believe, even I think it's ridiculous." Shunping paused, "But now this kind of thing happened, and there is no reasonable explanation, maybe it's just You can think about it that way.” "What are you trying to say?" Luo Fei frowned, not knowing what medicine he was going to sell in his gourd.

Junping said solemnly in a calm voice: "I feel that there is indeed something mysterious in this temple. We can't understand its existence, but it is exerting its own terrifying power." "You mean... haunted?" In fact, this is also an idea hidden deep in Kong Jing's mind. Now that Junpei brought it up, it immediately resonated with him. "How is this possible?" Luo Fei looked out the window and shook his head expressionlessly.No matter how many unexplainable weird events happen, he will not accept such idealistic views. "Director Luo, I know you can't accept it, but there are a lot of things in the temple that you don't understand." Shunping was not discouraged by Luo Fei's attitude, on the contrary, there was some tit-for-tat flavor.

"I don't understand, then why didn't you tell me earlier?" Luo Fei's dissatisfaction came out of his tone. "Some things about Master Kong Wang, I was not easy to say." Shunping looked at Kong Jing, and there was something in the words. "Now that everyone is dead, you still mention this." Kong Jing was a little unhappy, "Kong Wangai studies some things like gods and ghosts, it's okay if you don't like it, what does this have to do with what is happening now? Does it matter?" "You have always indulged in what he did. He came out of the "Death Valley" in the back mountain, and you also kept this secret. If he hadn't died, I'm afraid you would never have told everyone. "

"Does this have anything to do with it?" Luo Fei couldn't help but feel a little strange. Shunping and Shunde had shown abnormal expressions when Kong Jing mentioned "Death Valley" last time, and now Shunping brought it up solemnly. There are naturally hidden secrets in it. Junping turned to look at him and asked, "Director Luo, do you know the origin of the name 'Death Valley'?" This Luo Fei is really not very clear, he guessed in an uncertain tone: "Because of the dangerous terrain, there are more people committing suicide and falling to their deaths?"

Shunping shook his head: "What you said is only a secondary aspect. Regarding the 'Death Valley', the local mountain people know that there is a terrifying legend." "Oh?" Luo Fei gathered his eyes and looked at Shunping, "What legend?" "'Death Valley' is bottomless, and there are hard rocks on both sides of the mountain. For thousands of years, I don't know how many people died there. Some of them accidentally fell and fell, and some jumped off the cliff to commit suicide. .No matter what the situation is, as long as the people who fell into the valley, no one can come out alive, and even the corpse can't be found. However, in the history known to the people in the mountains, there was an exception once." Shunping said. Telling without hesitation.

"It is impossible to verify the exact time of that incident, probably two or three hundred years ago. A woodcutter had an accident while chopping firewood and fell into that valley. After the family and relatives in the village heard the news , thought that he was bound to die, and was in great grief. A week later, the family even took care of the funeral for him, but at this time, he came back. Although he was seriously injured and dying, he was still alive. Now not only his family, but the whole village were very surprised and very happy. But they certainly didn't know at the time that this was actually the beginning of a nightmare." Luo Fei frowned and listened quietly. "On the day the woodcutter came back, a young man in the village left the mountain to make a living. About a year later, when he returned to this remote village in the mountains, he couldn't believe his eyes—the whole village All the dozens of people in the upper and lower levels are dead!" Having said this, Junping took a deep breath, as if he was also a little suffocated by the heavy atmosphere. Luo Fei's eyes twitched slightly, he had a premonition that something unexpected would happen, but the development of the story still brought a shock far beyond his expectations. "What is especially frightening is that due to the closed location of the village, the bodies of those dead have not been found for a long time, and they have turned into bones!" "What?!" Imagining the horrific and terrifying scene at that time, even Luo Fei felt a chill rushing up from the soles of his feet. The story is not over yet. After a moment of silence, Shunping continued to narrate: "Later, the magistrate sent his assistant to the village to examine the bones. Except for the woodcutter who had several fractures, the others The bones were not damaged, and there was no sign of poisoning. Most of the villagers died in their own beds, just like evil spirits descending suddenly at night, taking the lives of the entire village.” "With so many people dead all at once, why haven't we found any valuable clues?" Luo Fei questioned himself. "In every villager's home, there are signs from 'Death Valley', and this is the only clue." "The mark of 'Death Valley', what is that?" Luo Fei asked suspiciously. "It's a kind of plant, or rather a kind of grass. No one has ever seen this kind of grass before. The young man remembers very clearly that it was brought from the 'Death Valley' when the woodcutter returned to the village a year ago. from." "It's not right." Luo Fei couldn't help frowning, "The grass should have withered in a year, how could he recognize it?" "Because the shape of this grass is very unique." Junping explained, "Its stems and leaves are extremely fat, but there are no thin leaves at the top. It looks like someone has cut off the head." "'Headless Grass'?" Luo Fei subconsciously named it, and at the same time moved his body uncomfortably. "This kind of grass appeared in the homes of all the villagers, and many skeletons even held it tightly in their hands before they died. This cannot but make people associate it with the death of the whole village. Later, it was rumored that, The woodcutter was able to escape from Death Valley because he had been possessed by the evil spirits in Death Valley, and those evil spirits claimed the lives of the whole village, and these grasses were the marks left by the evil spirits." After Shunping finished speaking, he turned his head and looked at Kong Jing: "Abbot, you should have heard of what I said before, right?" Kong Jing nodded solemnly: "That's right, but it's just a legend after all. Kong Wang has been to the 'Death Valley', but more than twenty years have passed, aren't we all still alive and well?" "But you don't know, Kong Wang went to 'Death Valley' again more than ten days ago, and brought these back!" Shunping said, and put the things in his hand on the table.It was a bundle wrapped in a long black coat. After the clothes were unraveled, a pile of shiny green plants was revealed inside. "Have you seen it?" Shunping's face became gloomy and terrifying, "This is the legendary mark of evil spirits, the headless grass from 'Death Valley'!" Sure enough, the strange shapes of the plants in front of him were exactly the same as what Junpei had just described.It seems that they have not been picked for a long time, and the plump stems and leaves still show vigorous vitality.Influenced by that frightful legend, this life force has a sinister sheen. "You... where did you find these things?" Kong Jing stared at those plants, feeling a little hairy in his heart. "In Kong Wang's room. I found his body under the window when I carried it back to the house just now." Shunping said, looking at Luo Fei with his eyes. Luo Fei understood what he meant, and nodded: "That's right, I saw it when I surveyed the scene in the house yesterday, but I didn't know its origin and those terrible legends at that time." "Kong Wang has been to 'Death Valley' recently, how did you know?" Kong Jing asked Junping. "It was just the day before his retreat. At that time, someone saw him leaving the temple early in the morning, heading towards the mountains and valleys, and didn't come back until the afternoon. I didn't think much about it at first, but now it is confirmed that he must have gone 'Death Valley'!" After Shunping answered Kong Jing's question, he went on to say: "After Kong Wang came back from 'Death Valley', he locked himself in the house and never went out. Even Shunde delivered his meals through the window. Go, but I can’t see his face. He himself said that he is practicing meditation in seclusion, but is it necessary for meditation? I have long been suspicious, but it’s just because of his seniority, it’s not easy to interfere.” "Then what do you think he is doing in the house?" Luo Fei asked thoughtfully. "I don't know." Junpei shook his head, but then said, "I guess it might be some kind of witchcraft." "Witchcraft?" Luo Fei narrowed his eyes incomprehensibly. "Kong Wang has a lot of research on things like ghosts and gods." Shunping explained, "When a villager dies in the mountains, he is often invited to set up a dojo and perform rituals." Luo Fei gave a noncommittal "ho": "That's just a custom in a backward area, why do you think he's doing these irrelevant things in the house alone?" "Of course there is a reason for my speculation. Shunde once reported something to me: one night a few days ago, after he went to the temple, he saw smoke burning in the hut where Kong Wang lived before. Then, a strange 'headless figure' appeared in the smoke!" Luo Fei and Kong Jing glanced at each other and said, "We already know this, do you think it has anything to do with Kong Wang's retreat?" "Oh? Shunde also told you?" Shunping seemed a little surprised, paused, and continued his thoughts, "At first I thought that Shunde was timid and afraid alone, so I had an illusion. But then I went to the hut to check, only to find something strange." "You mean the stove under the window?" Luo Fei gradually became a little impressed with Shunping. This person wanted to manipulate the situation in the temple everywhere, and he was indeed capable. "That's right. The smoke should come from the stove. And I also found the unburned residue from the hearth that day, and kept it." "What is it?" Luo Fei leaned forward excitedly.I didn't find anything. It turned out that someone got there first. "Here." Junping took out a palm-sized cloth bag wrapped in a handkerchief, opened it and put it on the table, "I just found out what this is." It was a leaf. Although the edge had been burnt, the whole was still relatively intact. "Headless grass!" Luo Fei and Kong Jing called out at the same time. "Could it be Kong Wang secretly grilling headless grass in the hut?" Luo Fei immediately had a corresponding association, "What is he doing?" Shunping did not answer directly, but said in a calm voice: "According to the legends of the mountain people, the headless grass grows so fat because it absorbs the souls of the dead in the valley, and each leaf has an unjust soul attached to it. Many of the people who died on the cliff had their heads crushed and turned into headless corpses." Reminiscent of the smoke produced by burning headless grass, a strange "headless figure" appeared in the smoke... Everyone knew what Junpei's words just implied, and the room was silent for a while. Unknowingly, the sky has turned pale.Junpei opened the window and looked out. "The snow has stopped." He stood there, staring blankly at the footprints in front of Kong Wang House, and now, they are only faint shadows left on the snow.