Chapter 12 Chapter 11 The Clan's Secret

Officer Dai and Du Yumei disappeared under our noses for no apparent reason. I can't believe my eyes, and I can't believe my own judgment, but all this is happening before our eyes, which makes people have to accept this fact. Hogg stared at the piece of rope that had been neatly cut by the scissors, unable to say a word for a long while. Xiaoqian murmured and asked: "What's going on here? Could it be that they both disappeared in a strange way like my two boyfriends before?" Unknowingly, she thought of her own sad things again, Hogg I couldn't help but took a step forward, gently hugged my cousin's shoulders, and said in an extremely gentle voice: "There will always be a reasonable explanation for things in the world, and they will never disappear out of thin air."

Hearing his words, I also nodded secretly. Yes, there are no strange things in this world. There must be a reasonable explanation for the disappearance of Police Officer Dai and Du Yumei. The rope was cut by scissors hanging on the second floor of the watchtower, that is to say, someone cut the rope on the second floor. There is a window sill on the outer wall of the second floor of the watchtower, and a person stands on the window sill to cut the rope. It worked, but the window was blocked with bricks, and if someone stood there, there was no way out except to go up to the roof, or jump off.

In fact, I was the last to climb the roof on the rope, and no one else has ever climbed on the roof since me. However, assuming that there is indeed a person standing on the window sill, in theory, this person can also reach out to catch her falling body on the window sill on the second floor when Du Yumei falls, preventing her from falling to the ground. If the person who stood on the windowsill and cut the rope was Officer Dai, then it would explain why he and Du Yumei disappeared out of thin air at the same time.This is also the only explanation. But the problem was that when Hogg then slid down the rope, he didn't see anyone on the second-floor window sill.There, there is only a brick wall tightly attached to the window sill, sealing the entire window tightly.

How can this be explained?It's like the secret room in mystery novels, except that this is a secret room from the outside to the inside. We are outside, but we can't break through the barrier of copper walls and iron walls, and enter this abandoned watchtower along the window sill on the second floor. Suddenly a light flashed before my eyes—ah, if that window wasn't blocked, wouldn't there be a reasonable explanation for all this? When I told Huoge Xiaoqian and the others what happened to Lao Li just now on the roof, Officer Dai first climbed up to the window sill on the second floor along the rope, and then asked Du Yumei to climb up after standing firmly.When Du Yumei climbed to the second floor, Officer Dai cut the rope and hid in the watchtower through the window.As for Du Yumei's sudden fall from the roof, it was probably beyond Officer Dai's expectation, it happened suddenly.

But if so, what does it mean? First of all, Officer Dai must first know that there is something wrong with the brick wall blocking the windows on the second floor of the watchtower, and Du Yumei will cooperate with him and pretend not to see him. Assuming that what Police Officer Dai did went well, after Du Yumei climbed to the roof, we will find that Officer Dai is missing, and we may think that he was abducted by a mysterious man wearing a mask, or even that something happened to him.But no one thought that he had actually hid in the watchtower. Why did Officer Dai sneak into the watchtower?What secrets are hidden upstairs?Does he want to enter first and then make some arrangements?Don't forget, it was Police Officer Dai who first suggested that we enter the watchtower and wait for reinforcements to arrive.If it is determined that there is a problem with Officer Dai, then most likely he has lied to us, and there will be no reinforcements here, so we can only rely on ourselves.

Du Yumei must be with Officer Dai. If Officer Dai's plan can be implemented smoothly, then Du Yumei will get in with us.The reason why Officer Dai cut the rope was probably because he wanted to reduce the length of the rope by half, so that we could not smoothly enter the correct position inside the watchtower along the chimney. When the time comes, the first person to slide into the chimney will definitely be the male among us, either me or Hogg. If Officer Dai hides in the dark inside the watchtower and sees the person hanging in the chimney in a dilemma, he just needs to cut the rope again , can make me or Hogg fall from a height alive and die instantly.In this way, there is only one man among the remaining people, and there is no way to protect the safety of others.

What is the purpose of Police Officer Dai and Du Yumei doing this?Want to kill us all? But what happened to Lao Li's death? Lao Li and Du Yumei are definitely in the same group, and they should also be accomplices with Officer Dai. After all, Lao Li has always insisted that Officer Dai was invited by him from the police station in the nearby mountain area. Maybe Lao Li is not dead at all?Officer Dai just told a big lie?Where did Lao Li go?Do those mysterious people wearing masks really exist? I guess Dick can't lie?The mysterious man should be real, and Grandma Huang also told us the story of the white-faced man.Perhaps, the mysterious man wearing a mask is an unknown X factor that will allow us to escape.

Looking back on Dick's death, there may have been another explanation. Maybe he wasn't killed and disembowelled by a mysterious man wearing a mask, but Lao Li killed him before leaving the guest room he shared with Dick, and cut him open with a special tool made of diamonds. up the window glass.No wonder the broken glass fell on the ground outside the hostel and not in the room. But why did Lao Li kill Dick?And cut him open?Such a thing cannot be done without a deep hatred.But judging from Dick's words and deeds along the way, he didn't look like someone who would cause a catastrophe.Except in the car in the main city of Sichuan, when Dick forced Lao Li to allow Hogg to come to Evergreen Valley, there was a few quarrels, and it seemed that the relationship between the two of them was pretty good.

Could it be that Lao Li, Du Yumei, and Police Officer Dai are just like the big villains in my favorite B-grade bloody violent movies, a bunch of out-and-out cold-blooded murderers?From the very beginning, they planned to make it impossible for everyone who entered the Evergreen Valley to leave here alive? Thinking of this, I couldn't help but shudder and tremble all over. After so much reasoning, it only exists in my mind, and I must find real evidence. Only by confirming that the brick wall behind the window on the second floor of the diaolou is really strange can I prove that my reasoning is not only theoretically feasible.

This time, I decided to prove it myself. So I grabbed the remaining rope and let Hogg pull on it, and I slowly sank down.After sinking to the window sill on the second floor, a brick wall behind the window sill appeared in front of me. It was dusty and looked very solid. I reached out and stroked the wall lightly. The texture is hard, no different from ordinary brick walls. I clenched my fist and tapped again. "Boom, boom, boom—" There was something wrong with the sound, as if the brick wall was thin and there was a void behind it. Overjoyed in my heart, I immediately grabbed the rope with my feet and vacated, then swung slowly, and kicked my legs heavily against the wall.

I heard a "bang", and a cloud of dirty mist rose from under my legs, and a hole suddenly appeared on the wall in front of me. Sure enough, as I reasoned, there was something wrong with the brick wall blocking the window. Squatting on the windowsill, I kept kicking the thin brick wall.Soon, the brick wall was completely kicked down by me.I didn't dare to go in like this rashly. After calling up a few times to report the situation here, Hogg hung Yu'er down. I got into the watchtower through this window first, but I didn't go in right away, but leaned against the window and looked around vigilantly. It was a very small room with a thick layer of dust on the floor. It seemed that it hadn't been cleaned for a long time, but there were still two clear footprints on the floor, one big and one small. This should be Police Officer Dai and Du The footprints left by Yumei.As long as there are footprints, there is a way to catch them out of the watchtower.Thinking of this, I couldn't help but feel secretly happy. While I was looking around, Yu'er was squatting on the windowsill, following the others. The next one to come to the windowsill was Xiaoqian.The next one is Grandma Huang.Grandma Huang was still tied to the rope and lowered slowly.But her old man's complexion still looks very good, she even rolled up her sleeves, excited like a young man, staring at the two lines of footprints on the ground with joy. In the end, Hogg also slipped down the rope and entered the hut in the watchtower with Yu'er one after the other.Hogg agreed with me, as long as you follow the footprints, you can find Officer Dai and Du Yumei. Although before coming to the watchtower, Du Yumei once drew a schematic diagram of the terrain.But after actually entering the watchtower, we found that the layout of the watchtower was quite different from the topographic map drawn by Du Yumei.This also proves from another aspect that Du Yumei drew a fake topographic map, and she must have a ghost in her heart. Following the footprints, we walked out of the hut through a small door. Hogg and Xiaoqian walked in the front, Yu'er helped Granny Huang, and I walked in the back. From my point of view, Grandma Huang is really old and strong, her legs and feet are quite sharp, where does she need Yu'er to help her?On the contrary, Xiaoqian held Hogg's arm as she walked, looking like a little bird clinging to others. We went down a winding stone step to the first floor of the watchtower.The dusty steps were so narrow that it was difficult for two people to walk side by side.Hogg turned his side slightly in a very gentlemanly manner, and wanted to walk ahead to open the way, but Xiaoqian didn't want to walk behind, and subconsciously squeezed forward.This time it was bad, I saw Xiaoqian's body swayed, she lost her balance, she fell to one side, and she was about to roll down the steps. Xiaoqian was originally holding Hogg's hand, but when her body was tilted, she let go of her hand, which made Hogg suddenly unstable.Fortunately, Hogg's reaction was quick, and when he said it too late, he immediately touched the ground with his hand, turned his body like a windmill, and grabbed Xiaoqian's ankle, so that Xiaoqian didn't fall down. "Why are you so careless?" I said to Xiaoqian reproachfully. Xiaoqian was stunned, didn't say a word, just turned her head and stared at Hogg blankly, with a strange expression on her face. "What's wrong with you? Are you injured?" Hogg immediately showed concern. He squatted down, held Xiaoqian's ankle, and massaged it gently. Then he moved his mouth closer, blew a few breaths, and asked, "Is it better?" I couldn't help laughing secretly, I'm not a child anymore, can a few breaths of air make my injured ankle heal? But what I didn't expect was that Xiaoqian stood up suddenly, stared at Hogg fiercely, and shouted loudly: "You are not Hogg! You are Xue Junwei!" Hogg is Xue Junwei?How is this possible? Is it possible for a person to become another person?Even if you put on makeup to change your appearance, it's impossible not to show your flaws in front of your girlfriend who gets along day and night, right? Xiaoqian must have admitted the wrong person, right?But looking at her expression, she was so determined.Looking at Hogg again, his expression has changed drastically, with a painful expression on his face. "You must be Xue Junwei! Why are you hiding it from me? And pretending to be another person?" Xiaoqian grabbed Hogg's hair like crazy and tore his face.She must have thought that the man in front of her was wearing a legendary human skin mask, dressing herself up as another person. However, no matter how she tore it off, except for leaving a few bright red fingerprints, she didn't tear off any human skin mask at all. I couldn't help but stepped forward and touched Hogg's face, it was a genuine face, except for a little fairness, how could there be any traces of makeup?It is even more impossible to have a human skin mask. Heh, the human skin mask is something fabricated in horror movies, so how could it exist in real life? I turned my face and saw Yu'er and Granny Huang were smiling wryly, as if they couldn't figure out why Xiaoqian mistook Hogg for her ex-boyfriend. Alas, this is too wrong, I can't help shouting at Xiaoqian angrily: "Are you crazy? How could you recognize Mr. Huo as Xue Junwei?" "Brother, I won't admit my mistake!" Xiaoqian cried, "I don't know why this happened, but he must be Xue Junwei! The movements he did just now are the same as when we went climbing two months ago. The moves are exactly the same!" Xiaoqian told me that when she and Xue Junwei were passionately in love, they often went hiking in the suburbs of the city in their spare time.One evening two months ago, the two of them had a whim after dinner, and they took a taxi to the outskirts of the city on a whim to climb a steep mountain.Unprepared that day, Xiaoqian wore a pair of high heels and was careful when going up the mountain, and finally climbed to the top. On the top of the mountain, Xiaoqian was so excited that she howled loudly and howled mischievously like a wolf. Unexpectedly, she slipped on the sole of her foot and almost fell down the steep mountain road.At that time, Xue Junwei touched the ground with one hand in time, and his body was shaped like a windmill, and he grabbed Xiaoqian's hand, so that Xiaoqian did not fall.Then Xue Junwei squatted down, gently massaged Xiaoqian's ankle, brought his mouth closer, and blew a few breaths. Xue Junwei's actions at that time were exactly the same as Hogg's actions just now. "Cousin, I understand your feelings. But what you said just now should be just a coincidence!" I said with a curl of my lips. But Xiaoqian yelled hysterically: "It can't be a coincidence! Even if the action is a coincidence, it's fine, but the weight of his ankle massage and the size of blowing air are exactly the same as Xue Junwei's. There can't be so many coincidences." of!" I turned my head and said to Hogg embarrassedly: "I'm really sorry, Mr. Hogg, please don't take offense, sometimes my cousin is so crazy..." Now is an extraordinary time, and I don't want any accidents to happen to our temporary team. But I saw an elusive expression on Hogg's face, and a blurred light seemed to flash in his eyes. "What's wrong? Are you really Xue Junwei? Stop joking." I laughed. Hogg ignored my insincere joke, he just raised his head and looked at Yu'er and Grandma Huang. I was taken aback, why did Hogg look at Yu'er and Granny Huang?Did they know each other before?But Hogg obviously came to Evergreen Valley by coincidence, and he only met Yu'er and Grandma Huang! Following Hogg's gaze, I also looked at Yu'er and Grandma Huang, and they both nodded to Hogg at the same time. Then I heard Hogg say in a strange tone: "Xiaoqian, I'm sorry, I lied to you. I am indeed Xue Junwei. But I didn't mean to lie to you, and I didn't mean to disappear from your side. I'm sorry, I also said The difficulty of not exporting..." Is Hogg really Xue Junwei?Can a person really become another person?Has he had a facelift? I couldn't figure out what happened, but my cousin grabbed Hogg's arm and kicked and hit him, but she couldn't bear to use all her strength when she kicked.I don't know if she is more angry at this moment, or more surprised. "Let's not talk on this narrow staircase, let's go to the first floor." It was Yu'er who spoke.She supported Granny Huang, but her tone was not like a stranger at all, but a bit like an insider who knew the inside story. I am getting more and more confused about the situation, but I also know that Yu'er is right, we should find a spacious place to talk with peace of mind. So I grabbed Xiaoqian's arm and took her with difficulty to the first floor of the watchtower along the stairs. On the first floor of the watchtower, there is a large room, except for the stairs, there is nothing, not even windows, it is completely a semi-circular hall. The floor on the first floor was relatively clean, perhaps it had been cleaned not long ago, and the footprints of Police Officer Dai and Du Yumei disappeared on the first floor. The brick wall blocking the gate on the first floor was no longer a thin disguised wall this time, but a thick wall with a thickness of fifty centimeters.There was no other exit, God knows where Police Officer Dai and Du Yumei went.We knocked on the wall, but didn't find any hollow echoes. There should be no dark passages in the walls.At the midpoint of the circular axis of the semicircular hall, there is a floor-standing fish tank.The fish tank is about two meters high, and it is empty inside. This is the only thing placed in the hall.The bottom of the fish tank was welded to the ground by rivets and could not be moved at all, so only the wall behind the fish tank was not beaten.However, since none of us can move, it is naturally impossible for Officer Dai and Du Yumei to move either.So we didn't care anymore. Putting aside the whereabouts of Police Officer Dai and Du Yumei for the time being, we each found a clean place to sit on the floor, and then Hogg—no, he should be called Xue Junwei now—started to tell his story. Xue Junwei was born in a small village three miles away from Evergreen Valley. That unknown village is also where Yu'er and Grandma Huang lived.There, all the villagers live in semicircular watchtowers built against the mountain wall. The villagers there all have ancient blood. They call their ancestors the sloughs. The slough people have the same characteristics, and their skin is particularly fair. They are the legendary white-faced people. The slough people have a common totem object, and they worship two gods. One is the snake god and the other is the moth god. The slough people often wear metal masks and dance with strange postures to the music when the tribe gathers.On the metal mask, strange patterns are drawn, which are the deformed curves of the two totems. After the snake nerve is deformed, it becomes a curved line.After the moth nerve is deformed, it becomes two superimposed circles.If you look at it at first glance, it looks a bit like two eyes, one open and the other tightly closed. The reason why the Shelter people worship these two gods is also related to their bloodlines. They believe that snakes and moths are their common ancestors. Snakes shed their skin every year.It is said that the reason why snakes shed their skin is because the snake's epidermis is a layer of keratinized scales.When the snake grows, the horny scales will not grow with it, so the snake will feel that its epidermis is like a layer of clothing that is too small, always restricting its actions.In addition, snakes crawl on the ground all year round, and their epidermis wears out a lot. Therefore, snakes will grow a new layer of skin under the original skin every spring, and lubricating body fluid will be secreted between the two layers of skin.When the snake's new skin grows, the snake will find a place where it will not be disturbed, shake its head constantly, tear the old skin around the mouth, take off the head first, and then slowly remove the old skin from the old skin. The whole body comes out, completing the process of molt. The same goes for the sloughs.Although their skin is not horny scales, it does not grow with the growth of the slough people, but it is like a layer of imprisonment, tightly covering the outside of the body.And every year, the slough people will grow a new layer of skin under the original skin.When the new skin grows completely, the original skin will slowly fall off, forming a layer of slough. The new skin is fair in color, and the slough people molt once or twice a year, mostly in early winter.Because they are worried that outsiders will know the secret of the slough people and be treated as monsters by others, so the slough people will choose to hide in a place where no one is disturbed, and shed their skin quietly.Only after the molting is completed, will they appear in front of outsiders, so when others see them, they will feel that their skin is particularly fair. Moths also have characteristics, that is, the cocoon breaking process from caterpillars to moths. The previous life of the moth was an ugly caterpillar. When the caterpillar grows to a certain point, it spins silk to make a cocoon, wraps itself in the cocoon and slowly regenerates.When it is reborn, it grows wings and turns into a colorful moth, which bites through the cocoon and is reborn from the cocoon.Before and after breaking out of the cocoon, its body shape is completely different, and it has become a completely different form of organism. The same goes for the sloughs.They don't shed their skin once, and their appearance will change greatly, completely changing into another person's appearance, and even their voice and fingerprints will change completely except for their gender and memory. Regarding these characteristics, the slough people also have different views. Some people feel happy. No matter what immoral things they do before the slough, as long as the slough is finished, no one will know.And some people will feel sad, especially those molting people who fell in love with foreigners. What they worry most about is that after molting, their sweetheart will no longer recognize themselves, let alone accept that their lover will change their appearance every year. fact. In order not to make their sweetheart sad, the infatuated slough people have no choice but to touch and leave the person they love deeply before shedding their skin. If they really can't let go, they can only appear in front of their sweetheart with a different appearance, hoping to regain a relationship with their sweetheart. love affair. That's why Xue Junwei suddenly left Xiaoqian without saying goodbye, and then reappeared by Xiaoqian's side as Hogg.He has always missed Xiaoqian, and he is unwilling to lose this beloved girl. In fact, even two years ago, Xiaoqian's other boyfriend who disappeared mysteriously was also Xue Junwei.Of course, at that time he was called another name, had another identity, and worked in a private financial institution, the so-called underground bank.The reason why he secretly stole the black money laundered from the underground bank when he disappeared was that no one would recognize who he was after shedding his skin.And with that money, he can let Xiaoqian live a happy life. In the past, no matter how much the shelters traveled outside, they would rush back to the village next to the Evergreen Valley when they were shedding their skins.In order to ensure the nutrition during moulting, they will look at the animal offal before molting. That's why I found so many frozen animal offal in the refrigerator in the old building where Xue Junwei rented. The molting people have always stubbornly believed that only there can they not be disturbed by anyone during the molting process.Although in recent years, many shelt people no longer return to the village to shed their skins, but they still regard this village as a holy place and their eternal home. So when they learned that someone was planning to develop Evergreen Valley and turn it into a tourist attraction, they began to worry that outsiders would enter their secret home. The developers of Green Valley investigate.Xue Junwei found out the identities of Du Yumei and Lao Li, and tracked Xichuan City in prison.When Lao Li drove me, Xiaoqian, and Dick back to Evergreen Valley, Xue Junwei managed to sneak into the four-row van we were riding in. At that time, in the parking lot next to the traffic light, the man in black pretending to be chasing Xue Junwei, needless to say, was also pretending to be a member of the Shelter clan. When Xue Junwei got into the car and found Xiaoqian sitting in the car, he was really shocked and couldn't help shaking with excitement, but at the time, I only thought that he was trembling with fright because he was being chased by gangsters. It suddenly occurred to me that when Xue Junwei was hesitating whether to tell this story, he once looked at Yuer and Grandma Huang meaningfully. Could it be—the two of them are also members of the slough clan? They were working for Du Yumei in Evergreen Valley. Could it be that they were also working as undercover agents for the Shelters, monitoring the developers in Evergreen Valley? Yu'er obviously saw my doubts. She smiled, nodded to me, and said, "Grandma Huang and I are both members of the shelt tribe, can't you think of it? I hope you don't think of us as monsters because of this. All these are the characteristics inherited from our blood. It can’t be changed, and we can’t change it. If we can get out of here alive, we hope you can keep this secret—we don’t want to be like guinea pigs and become research subjects in medical research institutes.” It's an unbelievable narrative. I really can't believe that there are such a group of mysterious people around me, and I didn't expect to know them by chance. The Shelters have been keeping their secrets from generation to generation, not letting others know.They have their own way of life, and they should not be guinea pigs for scientists to study and write papers, so I have an obligation to keep them a secret. However, if there are people with evil intentions among the slough people, then this physical characteristic will make these people extremely dangerous. I couldn't help but think of the shopping mall robbery that was raging in Xichuan City some time ago.The robber smashed the glass window with his bare hands, showing his face and swaggeringly snatching gold and silver jewelry from the shopping mall without any scruples about the surveillance cameras.Is he also a member of the slough clan? If this is the case, he will change his appearance and fingerprints after shedding his skin anyway, so when he committed the crime, he would reveal his face and leave footprints and fingerprints at the scene, which would lead the police investigation astray. It was horrible. When I asked Xue Junwei this question, he smiled slightly and replied: "People from the Huai clan have always hated evil, and they will never do bad things." "Uh, when you disappeared from Xiaoqian's side for the first time, didn't you also steal a large sum of money from the underground bank?" I retorted with ulterior motives. "Hehe, the underground money houses are originally a bunch of bad guys who lend usury, and what they do is outrageous. Stealing their money can only be regarded as robbing the rich and helping the poor." Shhh, there's another set of fallacies. Xue Junwei smiled again and said: "In the shopping mall that was robbed, the boss of his mother is also a vicious gangster. He used the shopping mall to launder money. I believe that after the robbery happened, the police will definitely investigate the shopping mall." , Maybe some new problems can be found.” "Uh, how do you know so much?" I asked in surprise. However, he put his index finger on his lips and made a "don't say, don't say" gesture. I get it, everything goes without saying. Well, let's not talk about this, let's consider our current situation. Where did Police Officer Dai and Du Yumei hide?Where is Lao Li?Why did they go to great lengths to lure us into this abandoned watchtower?What secrets are hidden in the watchtower? However, since there are slough people here, there are probably slough people outside the watchtower, and the unknown X factor has been determined to favor us, so we also have a strong backup. Thinking of this, my heart is a little more at ease. But when we entered the watchtower, it seemed that there were no other Shelters nearby.Police officer Dai said that Lao Li died at the hands of a mysterious man wearing a mask, I am afraid it is completely nonsense.So do the sloughs know we're here? In this watchtower, if we don't find out Du Yumei's conspiracy for a moment, we are still in danger.After all, they deliberately led us into the watchtower, I'm afraid this place has been designed by them as a murderous factory like death hell. And at this moment, a strange thing happened. A strange voice came from the wall, it seemed that someone was yelling, using up the most vicious words, vaguely, it seemed to come from the wall behind the fish tank. what happened? I raised my head and looked at the empty fish tank. The wall looked flat, and it didn't look like someone had hidden a mechanism. Xue Junwei and Yu'er took a step forward at the same time, each of them grabbed a foot under the fish tank, and then with a strong force, the fish tank was actually lifted up by them. Isn't the fish tank welded to the floor by rivets?The strength of these two people is so great? After the fish tank was carried away, I also took a step forward and patted the bare wall in front of my eyes. It was a real wall, and I couldn't hear any hollow echoes. Xue Junwei smiled slightly, raised his fist, and slammed it on the wall.There was only a "bang" sound, and the lime fell down, and a shallow pit appeared on the wall. Yu'er whispered in my ear. "Mr. Ruohai, I don't know if you have noticed the report about the shopping mall robbery in the newspaper some time ago? It is said that the robber smashed the window glass of the shopping mall with his bare hands. The window glass of shopping malls is usually made of tempered glass, and the wall The strength is about the same. Brother Xue forgot to tell you one thing just now, in addition to shedding skin and changing appearance, the physique of the shedding people has another characteristic, that is, their fists are very hard, so hard that they can smash glass!" After she finished speaking, she stood side by side with Xue Junwei in front of the wall, straightened her waist, stretched out her fists, and slammed into the wall. "Boom, boom, boom... boom, boom, boom..."