Chapter 10 10. Last day

Same as the previous two visits to the village, there was still nothing in the village except those dilapidated houses, and the surroundings were quiet, not even a bird chirping.However, Liu Chao knew that this was just what it looked like on the outside. In fact, there were too many things hidden in this remote mountain village—too many things that could not be seen by human eyes. The night has come, and Liu Chao believes that they will appear soon.He didn't go deep into the village, but stood at the entrance of the village, holding the harmful wooden sign tightly in his hand, but it will be returned to its original owner tonight.Liu Chao was convinced that those men in black would come to find him, so he just waited quietly, looking at the distant mountain shadows dyed red by the setting sun.

When the setting sun sank to the other side of the mountain, a figure appeared on the opposite winding mountain road, walking slowly towards this side. Finally came. Liu Chao took a deep breath, what will happen to his own fate, life or death, will soon come to a conclusion. The visitor stopped ten meters away from him. Although his face was facing this way, he couldn't see the other person clearly because of the darkness. "Who are you?" The other party spoke first, and the voice was very familiar. Liu Chao was stunned for a while before he asked, "Are you... an old horse?"

The visitor was also obviously stunned for a moment, and suddenly walked over quickly, and Liu Chao finally saw his face clearly—it was indeed an old horse.But he still couldn't believe it. A few days ago, in this place, didn't someone pretend to be an old horse?Even the voice is exactly the same.Besides, there is really no reason for a real old horse to appear in this place. Liu Chao took a step back and said, "Who the hell are you?" The old horse was stunned, and asked in surprise: "What do you mean? Did you know me on the first day?" Could it really be him?Liu Chao thought for a while and said, "How can you prove that you are an old horse?"

"Proof? Oh, I see, you must have been frightened." After thinking for a while, the old horse reached into his shirt collar with a hand and took out a small shiny silver object. "This is the amulet Xueli gave me. You have seen it before, so you should believe it now?" Liu Chao nodded, of course he still remembered this. "But how did you come here?" "I'm here to do something, but what are you doing here, you don't want to die!" "Come and return this thing to others." Liu Chao spread out his palms, revealing the wooden sign. The old horse only glanced at it, then sighed. "You are much braver than I thought. But...do you really think this is what people want?"

Liu Chao was surprised: "Isn't it?" The old horse also spread his palms, and a round object appeared under the moonlight, but he couldn't see what it was. Liu Chao walked over quickly, and soon he saw clearly that what the old horse held in his hand was an engraved A white jade in the shape of a lion, no, the upper half of the jade is a lion, but the lower half is a square. "Seal?" Liu Chao blurted out. "Yes, the partial general seal in the early Ming Dynasty, this kind of seal only existed in the first few decades of the founding of the Ming Dynasty. After Zhu Yuanzhang died, Zhu Di came to power and made all the styles of the royal jade seal, official seal, and private private seal. Reform, so the general seal in my hand is very rare in the world, and its value is at least 500,000 yuan - I got this knowledge from a friend who resells antiques. He wanted to buy this seal, but I didn't sell it. .”

Liu Chao looked at him in surprise: "What do you mean by talking to me?" The old horse suddenly lowered his head, and said lightly: "I'm sorry, this is what those men in black have always wanted - the seal that Liang Baohu used back then." Liu Chao slowly opened his mouth wide, and he didn't make a sound for a while, because he didn't fully understand what he meant, but he was already aware of the seriousness of the matter. "I lied to you all, including those men in black. They didn't know who actually owned this thing, but they thought it was what you were holding on to and didn't want to hand it over, and you also misunderstood that what they wanted to get back was That wooden sign, so Cui Bo and Xueli were killed by me..."

Only then did Liu Chao fully understand, and stared at him with wide eyes. After a long time, he said coldly, "How did you get this thing?" "The night I came here for the first time, Cui Bo and I couldn't sleep in the second half of the night. We made a bet and went to explore the village. On the second floor of that ancestral hall, I picked up this thing by chance. Cui Bo didn't know it, but he carried it for me. He was the one who was blamed—the man in black was looking for him first. Coincidentally, he picked up the wooden signboard in the village. He thought the other party wanted that wooden signboard. He didn’t hand it over for safety reasons, and they became even more suspicious of him. Yes. After his death, the man in black also came to me in a "dream"—please forgive me for not saying it at the time, I implied that Cui Bo handed over the seal to you, and you know better than me what happened after that."

"It turns out that we were all deceived by you!" Liu Chao stared at him bitterly: "Just for this little money, you let Cui Bo and Yaoyao die with regret, Yaoyao is still the person you like, how can you bear to—— " "It's because of her that I didn't know what to do in the first place, and it's also because of her that I'm here today." The old horse's eyes dimmed a little bit, and he continued: "One million may be just a year's pocket money for you, but it is the amount I can't save without eating or drinking for ten years. I don't want to live another day. I have to find a way to get one million in the fastest time and let Yaoyao marry me. So, when I know the value of this partial general seal, I think it's heaven. A gift to me. I don't want to defend myself, but honestly, what terrible consequences would there be for me doing this myself, when Tribo died, I hesitated for a long time and wanted to tell the truth, but I didn't have this after all courage……"

After listening to his words, Liu Chao secretly sighed——he was right, he was a sinner, but...sometimes a sinner may not necessarily be a bad person, Liu Chao recalled what he said to himself that night: "When you can only date her secretly, even when you are sleeping together, you are worried that the man will come back at any time; when you know that she is lying in someone else's arms tonight, and you want to kill that man, but you can only drink dull wine at home... ...Can you understand this kind of pain?" Liu Chao has never had this kind of experience, but he believes that no matter who is replaced by an old horse, he will probably do the same. "It's a pity that Cui Bo and Yaoyao died so wrongly." He couldn't help sighing, "If someone has to be responsible for their deaths, I don't think it should be you, but Yaoyao. She shouldn't be so greedy. Vanity, take a step back, since she chose to be taken care of by others, she should not accept your love, let alone force you, so in the final analysis, her death was caused by herself."

"That's not it!" Lao Ma became emotional suddenly, "It's that man who should be responsible! Xueli is indeed not a good girl, but she was still young at that time, it was that man who lured her into this path, the instigator Should go to hell!" Liu Chao didn't know if what he said was right or not. He always lacked the ability to judge such things, so after a while of silence, he diverted the topic to other places: "You just said that this thing is worth half a million yuan. What's the point of doing this if you're half the money you're asking for?"

"Half less is better than no money, right? Besides, apart from this general seal, I also found a lot of jewelry that day, all of which are antiques. They must be worth a lot of money, but I just put the seal in it." When I got up, Cui Bo followed me upstairs, I was afraid that he would ask me to share half of the things with him, I was not greedy for money, but I might not get a million, so I didn’t take those jewels at that time, he I didn’t find these things either. You woke up soon after we returned to the camp, and I didn’t have a chance to enter the village until we left here the next day. After we returned to Xuyou, strange things continued one after another. Of course I knew it was related to that I was also very scared, I didn’t dare to come and take those jewelry away by myself, I wanted to wait until you asked me to come over a few days ago...” At this point, there was a wry smile on the corner of Lao Ma’s mouth. "I wanted to wait until the end of the matter to get those jewels, but I realized that I couldn't wait anymore. I was afraid that they would lose patience one day, and we would all die by then, so when I entered the village for the second time, I was alone. Going up to the second floor of the ancestral hall is to take the risk to get those jewelry - they were originally packed in an iron box with the seal, and the iron box is placed behind the ancestral tablets, there is no chain, maybe those men in black never I thought that some people dared to enter the village and enter the ancestral hall, but the loss of the seal made them more vigilant, so I didn't find the box upstairs that day, and I didn't give up. I deliberately fell down when I went downstairs, so we had to stay here overnight After you fell asleep at night, I sneaked into the ancestral hall again, but I still couldn't find the jewelry. When I returned to the wooden house, I caught up with you saying that someone was pretending to be me, so I made the mistake of sleepwalking..." If the old horse hadn't confessed himself, Liu Chao felt that he might never know these things. Looking at the wooden sign still in his hand, he couldn't help shaking his head and laughing bitterly: "It's a pity that I have always regarded him as a treasure, and I was delusional." It will be fine if you return it to others in person, hehe, I am really stupid." "Sometimes, I wish I could be a little more stupid." Liu Chao suddenly looked up at him, "You haven't said, what are you doing here tonight?" "Return the things to others, and let them dispose of them." The old horse said lightly, "Everything I did was for Xueli, but I killed her. Now there is no meaning for me to live. The only thing I can do now is Just return this thing to them, and hope they will let you go from now on, after all, I made the mistake alone, and it has nothing to do with you." Liu Chao said emotionally: "You can sell this thing and fly away with the money." "That sounds good, but at least I'm still human." The old horse stared into his eyes without blinking, and was about to say something, when he opened his mouth, there was a sound of footsteps not far behind him, Maybe it was because the surroundings were so quiet that the voice could be heard very clearly.The two looked at each other and followed the sound together. Dressed in a black robe covering from head to toe, just by looking at this attire, the two knew that the person they were waiting for had arrived.The old horse suddenly took a step forward to block Liu Chao, and said in a low voice, "If you don't want to die, please don't make a sound." The man in black walked over slowly and stopped ten meters away from the old horse. "You came to deliver something." He said, his voice was a little hoarse, but it sounded like the voice of a young man in his thirties.As soon as he opened his mouth, the mysterious aura that enveloped him weakened a bit. Perhaps it was a psychological effect. Liu Chao felt that the one with such a normal voice should not be a ghost. The old horse raised his wrist and showed the man in black the general seal in his hand. "The things must be returned, but I have a request. The person behind me may have offended you, but it is a misunderstanding. He doesn't know what you want, let alone that this thing has been with me all this time. , everything was planned by me, it has nothing to do with him, and it has nothing to do with the two people who died - I know that you killed them to force us to hand over this seal, you have killed two innocent people, I hope you If you can let him go, there are two other friends." "Very good." The voice floated out from under the brim of the man in black's hat, without any emotion. "But since you're here, none of you will ever think about leaving again." The old horse was slightly taken aback, and held up the seal, "This thing is made of jade, I think, it shouldn't be able to withstand being dropped, right?" "Do you know the consequences of doing this?" "Since I'm here, I never thought about getting out alive." What the old horse said warmed Liu Chao's heart. He recklessly stepped out from behind the old horse, stood side by side with him, and said to the man in black: "This incident is our fault, and we lost two friends because of it." , is it even? So we can give you something, but I hope you can let us go from now on, and we will definitely keep this matter a secret." "Anyone who has seen the relics of the ancestors must die." Liu Chao was stunned for a moment, only to realize that he was referring to the general seal. Not only was he not afraid, but heaved a sigh of relief—at least the lives of Qin Nalan and Song Qing could be saved. He smiled lazily and said: "It's easy to say, only the two of us have seen this seal, so please keep your word and let my two friends go." "Very good." The man in black raised his sleeves, and something fell in front of the two of them with a bang. Liu Chao looked down and saw that it was a dagger, shining coldly in the moonlight. "It's time for you to show your sincerity, and you know how to say it." The voice was still cold, as chilling as the dagger lying on the ground. "Then, let us bid farewell to each other." After finishing speaking, the old horse pulled Liu Chao back a few steps without waiting for the man in black to answer, and said in a very low voice: "I just saw that there was no one outside the village. You run out in one breath, don't stay, hurry up! Run now!" Liu Chao looked at him in astonishment, and shook his head: "Even if I can escape, what about Nalan and the others? Besides, can we hide for a lifetime?" "Let's avoid this catastrophe first. You will definitely find a way to deal with them, I believe you!" The old horse secretly glanced at the man in black, "Hurry up, you will be able to run out before he is on guard. Still shaking his head, Liu Chao said resolutely, "For Nalan, I am determined to die too, but it's a pity that I have to be buried with you, my friend." "I don't want you to be buried with me, friend." The friend said the words, and the old horse turned around and walked towards the man in black, saying, "Finally, I want to ask you a question. How did Xueli die?" "It's very simple. I stole your key and opened the door..." The man in black's voice was still cold, as if killing people was not a big deal to him. The old horse paused, and then asked, "Did you move your hand?" "yes." "Why did you kill her?" "To make an example to the monkeys, to force your friend to hand over the things, you are right, we always thought the things were on him." The man in black was very frank, probably because he felt that facing a dying person, there was nothing to hide. "Okay, I'm fine." The old horse bent over to pick up the dagger from the ground, and walked straight over. "I hope you can keep your word and let my two friends go. I will give you my seal and commit suicide to apologize!" The man in black didn't speak anymore, and slowly raised a hand to receive the seal he handed over, with a very proud gesture, but he never expected that what the old horse handed him was not the seal, but the dagger! When he found out all this, the dagger had already pierced his neck! The man in black staggered and fell to the ground, his coat and hat fell off his head, revealing the face of a young man full of fright. He covered his neck with his hands and struggled over and over on the ground, but it was obvious that he was not long to live. "I knew you were made of flesh and blood. If you killed Xueli, I will kill you!" the old horse stared into the eyes of the man in black and said viciously, as if he wanted to vent all the resentment in his heart.Suddenly, he raised his head and glanced at Liu Chao who was standing in the distance dumbfounded: "What are you waiting for, run!" This affectionate and strong call brought Liu Chao back to his senses, and he also shouted: "Let's run together!" "Leave me alone, hurry up!" "I can't leave you behind." Liu Chao walked towards him quickly, wanting to pull him along with him. At this moment, a cry came from not far behind Liu Chao, resounding through the entire silent mountain village .Immediately afterwards, a figure rushed over quickly, directly pounced on the man in black who was lying on the ground waiting to die. "Li Pu, I knew it was you, I knew it was you by hearing the voice, so you didn't die..." Liu Chao was startled—although he didn't see the person coming, but her voice already made him recognize her identity: Song Qing, it's Song Qing!But why did she suddenly appear in the village?How could the man in black lying on the ground be Li Pu, the man who died in Fengmen Village a few years ago, Song Qing's ex-boyfriend? At this time, the man in black spoke. The wound on his neck made his voice very weak. Fortunately, Liu Chao was nearby, so he could barely hear him. "It's me... I'm sorry, I didn't die, but joined Fengmen Village..." Another figure rushed over from behind, ran up to Li Pu, leaned over and asked him, "Quickly tell me, what happened to the girls you captured?" ——It was Jiang Xiaolou's voice!Now Liu Chao was really dumbfounded. In the blink of an eye, so many unbelievable things happened. He almost lost his ability to think. Fortunately, his ears can still be used, and he heard Li Pu's dying voice: To be alive... to perform a ritual before killing... on the manhole cover in the courtyard of the ancestral hall..." "what?" Li Pu's head fell into Song Qing's arms, dead, but his eyes were still open, staring straight at his former lover, the meaning contained in his eyes, I'm afraid Song Qing could understand it.She stopped crying and hugged the person in her arms tightly. At this time, a burst of chaotic footsteps sounded from behind Liu Chao, he turned his head instinctively, and saw a scene that he never expected, even more inconceivable than Li Pu's death, Song Qing and Jiang Xiaolou's sudden appearance—— — A group of policemen emerged from the dark woods. A male policeman in his thirties who led him bluntly yelled at Jiang Xiaolou: "I told you not to take these two women with you. Not only was it against the rules, but it also disrupted the entire plan. Detective Jiang, now it depends on you!" Jiang Xiaolou got up and ran quickly to the depths of the village, turning his head and shouting: "Didn't you hear, the manhole cover in the courtyard of the ancestral hall, whoever knows the way, hurry up and lead the way!" "Follow me!" The old horse also started to run, and all the policemen followed with their flashlights on.A figure originally hidden by these people appeared in front of Liu Chao.It was Qin Nalan. The two looked at each other for a long time before Liu Chao rushed over and hugged her slender body tightly. "Tell me, what's going on here?" "I didn't expect you to come here..." There was a cry in her voice, and she continued to explain: "After you left, the more I thought about it, the more wrong it became - what time is it, you still have the mind to help Jiang Xiaolou sort out some documents , So I went to the police station with Song Qing, just when you called Jiang Xiaolou, he told me that you came here, in order to reassure me, he revealed to me that they had ambushed people here, but I still didn’t agree Don't worry, Jiang Xiaolou just happened to be coming, so I pestered him to bring us here..." She hugged his neck tightly, sobbing and said: "I heard what you said, so you did this for me, why are you so stupid, if you really died for me, what should I do, you want me Live the rest of your life in pain?" Liu Chao couldn't say a word, so he could only hug her like this and cry with her.Since he became an adult until now, except for that time when he watched the news about the Wenchuan Earthquake, he almost never shed tears, but at this moment, he really cried.These tears contain pity, sadness, touch and happiness. Only now did he realize that being able to cry is actually a kind of happiness, at least he is still alive, he can still hug his sweetheart, feel the fragrance of her hair and the temperature of her body.It's good to be alive, it's good to be in love. "I don't want to be separated from you again..." Qin Nalan buried her head in her chest and said in a coquettish tone. After experiencing so many things, she no longer had the initial shyness when facing the person she loves. Made her mature. "Of course, I haven't had enough of the braised eggplant you made." Qin Nalan smiled through tears, "The egg fried rice you made is not bad, but next time put more salt." "I must remember." The two looked at each other and laughed. When the well cover was opened, a gust of cool wind blew in. Jiang Xiaolou used a strong flashlight to shine a light on the bottom, and unexpectedly there was a huge space below, and there was a downward ladder standing beside the well. Without further ado, Jiang Xiaolou climbed down the ladder, and then his colleagues went down one by one, leaving only a few police guards on the top, looking nervously at the bottom of the wellhead.Liu Momo, a civilian policeman, was naturally among them. Everyone is waiting anxiously, but they don't know what the result will be. Time passed by, and about twenty minutes later, a figure climbed up the ladder. It was still Jiang Xiaolou, but there was another person in his arms, a woman with long hair. "Quick, do me a favor!" Immediately, two policemen stepped forward and pulled the person in his arms up. At this moment, Liu Momo heard her groan slightly, and his heart immediately fell back into the distance: she can still groan, which means that her life is not in danger.Looking at her face again, Liu Momo shouted excitedly: "So it's my sister-in-law, that's great!" Ji Ruxuan was rescued! Soon, four more girls were rescued one after another. They were all still alive, but their mental state was poor. Of course, if someone lived in the dark underground for ten days and a half months, they might look like this. Fortunately, they are all still alive and can continue to enjoy a good life-maybe life is not good, but as long as they are alive, there is hope for everything! At this time, how much Jiang Xiaolou wanted to come up to accompany his girlfriend, talk to her and comfort her, but he didn't come up, just because he was a policeman, and he had unfinished tasks. He followed their colleagues in the underground "maze" They kept walking until they crawled out from another place. Looking around, they saw a dilapidated temple, and the place they came out of was also a dry well! Jiang Xiaolou greedily took a few deep breaths, smiled and said to Gao Fei who led the team: "We have finally come out of hell!" Liu Chao and Qin Nalan rushed to the ancestral hall, and learned from Liu Momo that Ji Ruxuan and the other rescued girls had been taken away. The real identity of the people——Jiang Xiaolou told her, but they are just a group of lunatics who are obsessed with witchcraft.Even the old nest has been taken away, and their life is exhausted. Liu Chao really did not expect that the matter would end in such a perfect way. He stepped forward and patted the old horse on the shoulder, and said with emotion: "Good friend, everything is over, and it is over successfully!" "Yes, it's a successful conclusion." A mysterious smile appeared on the corner of Lao Ma's mouth. "Unfortunately, I killed someone." Liu Chao was startled, he almost forgot about the killing of the man in black just now by the old horse, and hurriedly said: "But you are in a special situation, it should be regarded as... a legitimate defense, at best it is an over-defense, there will be no harm Yes." "I'm not afraid. I said that everything I do is for Xueli. After she dies, my heart dies too..." When he said the last word, Liu Chao raised his hand and said The light flashed in front of his eyes, and before Liu Chao realized what had happened, the old horse had already fallen backwards on the ground, curled up like a poor caterpillar. "Old Ma, you..." Liu Chao stepped forward to help him up from the ground. Under the moonlight, he saw a dagger stuck deep in the left chest of the old horse, with blood oozing out. Liu Chao suspected that this dagger was the one he had used to kill Li Pu before. When he came over, he pulled it off Li Pu's body, and then stabbed it into his chest. "I... also killed a person..." the old horse said with difficulty. "You know who it is, that man..." Liu Chao nodded with difficulty, "I know, he should die..." The old horse tried his best to make a smile, and slowly closed his eyes. he died.