Chapter 7 Mask of the Red Death

Mask of the Red Death It is said that the "Red Death" has been raging in China for a long time, and there has never been such a deadly and terrible plague.The specific manifestation and characteristic of this disease is hemorrhage-a deep red, which is heinous.The patient felt severe pain at the beginning, and suddenly became dizzy, and then died of massive bleeding from the pores of the whole body.As long as scarlet spots appear on the patient's body, especially on the face, it is a sign of the plague. At this time, none of the relatives and friends dare to approach him to rescue him or condolences to him.It takes less than half an hour for the patient to go from getting sick to becoming ill and dying.

But Prince Rong was still happy, he was confident and fearless.When half of the people in his domain were dead, he took a thousand companions, strong and hearty, from among the warriors and wives of the palace, called them to him, and took them to live in seclusion on a battlement under his command. to the great temple built.The monastery occupies a large area and a magnificent building, completely built according to the prince's eccentric and luxurious taste.The monastery is surrounded by strong high walls.There are iron gates on the wall.When these disciples entered the monastery, they brought a furnace and a big hammer to weld all the latches.They made up their minds and never opened the door for convenience, even if they couldn't hold back in it from now on, they couldn't get in and out even if they were desperate and frantic for a while.The monastery has sufficient food reserves and is prepared for any danger, so they don't care about any plagues.How the outside world is going on, just listen to it.Besides, whether you are sad or worried, it is nothing but mediocrity.The prince has already arranged all the equipment for having fun.There are jokers, impromptu performers, ballet dancers, music performers, beauties, and wine.There is everything in the monastery, and you can enjoy the peace as much as possible, but the "red death" is rampant outside the monastery.

She lived in seclusion in the monastery for nearly five or six months. At this time, there was a great uproar outside, but Prince Rong held an unprecedented masquerade ball, and invited a thousand companions to have fun. This masquerade party is really extravagant.Here, let me introduce the venue where the dance will be held.There are seven rooms in total, which were originally a set of palaces.However, if you are in a normal palace, you only need to push the folding door to the two sides of this kind of suite and push it up to the wall, and you will be able to look straight out, and the whole suite can be seen at a glance.But the situation here is very different, because this prince loves to be ingenious, and the rest can be imagined.These houses were built so irregularly that only one place could be seen at a time.There is a sharp corner every twenty or thirty steps, and you can see novel scenes at every corner.There are tall and narrow Gothic windows in the middle of the left and right walls, and outside the windows is a corridor surrounding the palace.The windows were of stained glass, varying in color, in keeping with the dominant hues of the interiors in which they opened.For example, the hanging decorations in the East Wing are blue—the windows are crystal blue.The decorations and curtains of Ce's two rooms are all purple red, and the window panes are also purple red.The third room is always green, and the casements are also green.The furniture and the light in the fourth room are all orange.The fifth room is all white, and the sixth room is all violet.The seventh room is densely covered with black velvet curtains from the ceiling to the corners of the four walls, and they are dragged onto the carpets of the same color and family.Only the windows in this room are not in the same color as the interior decoration.The window-panes here are scarlet--red like thick blood.In these seven rooms, among the large number of resplendent and magnificent decorations that are filled with pits and valleys, or hung in the air, there is not a single lamp, nor a single candlestick.In this flat there was not a single lamp, nor a single candle.But in the corridor which surrounded the house, opposite every window stood a large, heavy censer, with a firepot in it, which lit up the room through stained glass.Therefore, it presents a colorful and strange scene.But in the dark room in the west wing, the firelight shone through the blood-red window panes and shone on the pitch-black curtains. Come in.

In this room stood a huge ebony clock in front of the west wall.The pendulum swung from side to side, and the sound it made was dull, sluggish, and monotonous.Whenever the long needle makes a full circle on the clock face and when the time comes, a deep sound comes out from the brass cavity of the big clock, which is clear and sonorous, very pleasant, but the tone and idea are so strange, so every time For an hour, the musicians in the orchestra could not help but stop playing to listen to the bell; couples waltzing in pairs had to stop spinning, and the men and women who were having fun were unavoidable for a while; not to mention, the bell was still ringing. When knocking and knocking, even the most dissolute people turned into ashes, the elderly and the mature and prudent couldn't help but stroke their foreheads with their hands, as if they were lost in wild thoughts.But when the lingering sound of the bells died down, there was a burst of relaxed laughter at the ball; all the musicians looked at each other and laughed dumbfoundedly, as if to make fun of the neurotic and stupid behavior just now.Everyone also secretly swore to each other that they would never be so emotional again when the bell rings next time.I don't want time to fly by so fast, and 60 minutes passed in a blink of an eye, that is to say, 3,600 seconds later, the clock struck again, and at this time there was still chaos and shock, causing everyone to think.But, in spite of this, the feast was grand, and everyone had a good time.After all, the prince's taste is weird.He has an eye for color and effects.He has no regard for fashionable decoration.His visions were bold and fiery, and his conceptions shone with a brutish brilliance.Some people thought he was crazy, but his followers didn't think so.But to make sure that he is not crazy, one must hear him speak, see his face, and have contact with him.

On the occasion of this grand banquet, most of the decorations in the seven rooms were arranged by him himself.The sound and light features of the masquerade are also set according to his leading position.Needless to say, everything was grotesque.It is really colorful and ever-changing, dazzling and heart-wrenching-almost all the scenes I have seen in "Onani".There are grotesque images everywhere, people with nondescript limbs and costumes.All dream-like wonders, only a madman can conjure up such tricks.Although there are many things that are too beautiful to behold, there are also many things that are immoral, and there are many things that are weird.In fact, the people walking around in these seven rooms are no different from a group of people in a dream.These dreamers mirrored the colors of the rooms, twisted and twisted, and drove the band crazy, echoing their steps like echoes.Not long after, the ebony clock in the dark room rang again.So, for a moment, except for the sound of the bell, everything was silent and there was no sound at all.These dreams suddenly froze.But when the lingering sound of the bell died away—in fact, it was only a blink of an eye—there was an almost suppressed smile in the crowd, rippling with the distant bell.Then the music started playing again, the dream scene reappeared, and the light scattered from the incense burner, shining through the colorful windows, was distorting the figures more joyfully.However, in the room in the west wing, those who participated in the masquerade ball still did not dare to go.As the night drew to a close, a red light poured in from the blood-red window-panes; The gloomy bells all felt more solemn and powerful than those heard by the sensual people in other rooms far away.

But the other rooms were full, and the vibrant heart was beating vigorously.The carnival was in full swing, and the bell was ringing, and it was already midnight.Then, as mentioned above, the music suddenly fell silent, and the waltzing couple stopped spinning;But this time the clock strikes twelve, and the merrymakers have longer periods of deep thought and more thoughts on their minds.Perhaps, because of this, when the rest of the last bell had not disappeared, everyone had time to notice the arrival of a masked man who had never attracted attention before.Everyone immediately whispered, and the news of the visitor spread from one to another, and the guests were buzzing, expressing dissatisfaction and surprise, and finally expressing fear, fear and disgust.

There is every reason to say this: In such an extraordinary assembly as I have described in my pen, the appearance of ordinary people will never cause an uproar.To tell the truth, this all-night masquerade was too indulgent.Although the prince has come up with tricks one after another, the person everyone is talking about is even better than the prince.Let's just say that those who are extremely dissolute are not without emotional chords in their hearts.Even those people who are completely indifferent and regard life and death as trivial, it is inevitable that there are some things that cannot be taken lightly.It seemed that all the guests were deeply disgusted by the stranger's dress and manner, which had neither the slightest wit nor the slightest decorum.The man was slender and wrapped in a shroud from head to toe.A mask was made to be almost the same as the face of a zombie, even if you looked closely, it was hard to tell that it was fake.But people who are having fun here, despite their dissatisfaction with the various conditions here, can still tolerate it.But the actor went too far and pretended to be the "Red Death".His burqa was spattered with blood—horrible scarlet spots on his broad forehead and features.

The ghost moves slowly and solemnly, walking up and down among the waltzing guests, as if it wants to continue to play this role more vividly.Seeing the presumptuousness of this ghost, Prince Rong couldn't help convulsing and trembling. It seemed that he was either frightened or disgusted; but in a blink of an eye, he was so angry that his forehead flushed. He shouted hoarsely to the doormen beside him, "Who dares to insult us with such a damn joke? Arrest him and peel off his mask—we'll see, and he will be tied up in the city tomorrow morning." Who was it that was hanged on the head?"

When Lord Rong said these words, he was standing in a blue room in the East Wing.The sound was loud and clear, and spread throughout the seven rooms, because the prince was born reckless and rough, so he waved his hand, and the music fell silent on the spot. The prince stood in a blue room, followed by a group of pale-faced retainers.At the beginning, while he was speaking, the group of retainers moved slightly closer to the uninvited guest who was already nearby.Unexpectedly, this uninvited guest approached the prince calmly and solemnly.Everyone was terrified when they saw the arrogance of the comer. How could anyone dare to stretch out their hands to catch him?Therefore, this uninvited guest walked in front of the prince unimpeded, so close to him.At this time, the group of dancers couldn't help retreating from the middle of the room to the wall, and he took advantage of this to walk forward without stopping. The steps were still as unusual as before, both steady and well-balanced. step by step out of the blue room, into the purple room, out of the purple room into the orange room, from this into the white room, and from there into the violet room Only then did the prince decide to take action to catch him.However, the prince was timid just now, but now he became angry with embarrassment and went mad with anger. He rushed through the six rooms in a hurry, everyone was frightened to death, and no one dared to follow him.He held up an unsheathed short sword, and hurriedly approached the retreating person, the distance was only three or four feet away.At this time, the man had already retreated to the end of the last room, turned around suddenly, and faced the prince who was chasing up.There was only a scream, and the dagger fell to the black carpet shining brightly, and the body of Prince Rong fell on the carpet in an instant.Seeing this, the group of fun-loving people took the risk and rushed forward into a black room. The slender body was motionless, standing upright in the dark of the ebony clock.They caught him at once.Unexpectedly, what he grabbed violently was only a shroud and a zombie mask, and there was no one in it.Everyone was so frightened that they couldn't describe it.

At this point, everyone agreed that the "Red Death" had come to the door, and he slipped in like Xiaoxiao.The pleasure-seekers fell one after another in the blood-stained ballroom, their corpses were in a mess, and all of them looked desperate.The life of the ebony clock ended with the end of debauchery.The fire of the censer was also extinguished.Only darkness, decay and the "red death" rule the world.