Chapter 17 Chapter Sixteen: Owl of the Night

"Me, Second Brother, Fifteenth Brother, and Ninth Brother, let's go and look for it first." I pointed to a bridge on the coastal road in the distance and said, "Xiao Ru drove over there, and after we passed, we will look for it separately and meet again." "Be careful." Wang Fugui warned, got in the car and left.Lao Jiu, A Shiwu and I crossed the river cautiously and followed Little Bear's footprints. On the other side of the river is a forest, and the altitude has gradually increased as we walked.There are more and more stones under my feet, and the trees around me are getting thicker and thicker.Some places are full of bushes and there are no roads.

In such a dark mountain forest, looking for a person and a dog is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack.Moreover, the footprints have been intermittent since entering the woods. "Damn it, when did this bastard run so fast? Can't even catch a dog?" Panting, I found a rock and sat down, my whole body seemed to be falling apart. "They're not running fast," Ah Wu looked at the footprints on the ground and gave me a sideways glance, "but they're leading us around." "Walk in circles?" I looked down, yes, indeed some footprints were repeated.

At this time, the sky turned white.I looked at my watch, it was already past five o'clock in the morning.In another hour, it will be daylight.But the little bear seemed to have disappeared, and he couldn't even hear the cry. "Did we find the wrong place?" Lao Jiu also sat beside me panting, took off his shoes and shook the sand poured in, looked around and asked, "Did we go up the mountain?" "It's right to go up the mountain!" I gritted my teeth, and recalled the picture of the cave in the computer, and vaguely felt that the place should not be far from here, maybe it was somewhere under our feet.

"Let's look separately." I took a rest and felt better, "Let's gather at the top of the mountain in a while!" So, the four of us went up the mountain from four directions to conduct a dragnet search.Because there is a walkie-talkie, it is convenient to take care of each other. Fortunately, the mountain is not big. If anyone finds anything, the nearest person can arrive within fifteen minutes. There is no road in the forest, and there are some old trees with all their leaves all around, making people feel hairy with their teeth and claws.The ground was full of long grass and shrubs that could bury a person, and there seemed to be no end in sight when walking through it.I groped slowly in the forest, looking for every possible corner, and walked carefully to the top of the mountain.

Halfway up the mountain, a building suddenly appeared in front of me.When I got closer, I found that it looked like a small temple.The gate of the temple is dilapidated, and in front of the gate is a huge bully, with a stone tablet on its back, which looks like it has been abandoned for a long time.Most people who rely on the sea to eat are superstitious, but their beliefs are different. For example, in some places in the south, most believe in Mazu, while in the north, most believe in the Dragon King, and there are many other gods, so we often see many in coastal areas. Weird temple.I once saw a tortoise in a certain place. A huge tortoise shell was placed in the hall to receive incense from devout men and women.

But from the outside of this small temple, it is impossible to tell which gods are enshrined.I took a picture with a flashlight, and vaguely saw that the temple door seemed to be open. Suddenly, I felt nervous, and my palms holding the gun were sweating.I walked cautiously to the temple gate, hesitating whether to go in or not. "When you meet a temple, don't enter lightly", this is an old saying, which roughly means that if you don't know which god is enshrined in the temple, don't go in easily, because you don't know whether the god inside is a meat eater or a vegetarian. Whether you like good men or faithful women, or they are simply evil temples of some mountain spirits and wild monsters such as yellow skins and snake spirits; encountering some true gods and Buddhas will not be a big problem, but if they are some evil things, it will inevitably be a bit unlucky.

I wandered a few steps along the temple.Suddenly, when I swept the flashlight under the stone pillars at the entrance of the temple, something seemed to reflect light.I went over to check, but it was a pool of water stains.I squatted down and looked again, and there was a foul smell coming out of my nostrils. "Could it be the little bear peeing?" I looked at the "map" booth, and my heart skipped a beat.Did it really go in?Not daring to hesitate any longer, I kicked open the half-closed temple door. I loaded the Remington in my hand and looked around vigilantly.In the temple, "although the sparrow is small, it has all five internal organs". There are several tall cypress trees in the courtyard, and beside the cypress trees are the main hall and side halls.Those few dilapidated buildings are gloomy and look very old.

"Wow", only heard a sound from the main hall, as if something had been knocked over.My heart tightened for a moment, and I walked in quickly with a gun in my hand. After entering, I still leaned against the wall behind me.The weathered wall skin was already very brittle, and I squeezed it so that it fell off. "Little Bear!" I yelled under my throat, my heart pounding, mixed with the sound of gasping from my mouth and nose, which made my nerves so tense that I was about to break. I took a photo with a flashlight and saw that the main hall was very dilapidated, and the sky was already visible in several places above the head.

Looking down slowly, there is an incense table in the middle of the hall, and behind the incense table is a tall clay statue of a god. The color of the statue is not as colorful as ordinary statues of gods and Buddhas, but the whole body is dark red, as if it has been painted with blood, and I don't know if it is a long time ago, and the tire paint on it has begun to peel off one after another. Under the white LED light emitted by the flashlight, it is even more mysterious. I squeezed the brow bones hidden in my arms, calmed down a little, and continued to carefully search the corners of the temple, "Little bear... old sheep... don't be afraid, it's me..." I pressed He yelled a few more times, "I'm here...I'm Lao Yu." His voice trembled because of nervousness.

A gust of mountain wind blew in from nowhere, and there was a faint smell in the wind, which made the back of my neck cool.Suddenly, there was a sound from the shadow behind the statue. "Who!" I immediately pointed my gun there nervously, and moved my body quietly, "Is it the old sheep?" I went there to see, but there was no one there. I leaned my body against the statue behind me nervously and took a breath.The smell is stronger here.I only heard a "click" from behind, and I felt something fall from the top of my head, so I hurried to avoid it, only to see a black thing rolling down from the statue, about the size of a football.The thing gurgled straight from the altar to my feet.

The rancid smell suddenly became stronger, and when I shone it with a flashlight, my scalp immediately felt numb.It was clearly a glaring head, with a face covered in blood, and a pair of black eyes staring straight at me. I was so frightened that I stepped back a few steps, but I felt that I bumped into someone from behind.Looking back, there was a figure standing behind me.Just as I was about to touch the gun, I saw the man reach out and hold me down: "It's me." I quickly took a picture with the flashlight, and the man was wearing a pair of glasses, with a scar stretching from the forehead to the base of the ear, it was Ah Er! "Second brother..." I pointed at the head on the ground incoherently, "There are... dead people..." "What's there to be afraid of the dead?" Ah Er frowned and looked at me, then used the flashlight to shine on the place I pointed.He let out a "huh" and pulled the head with the barrel of the gun again, then squatted down to look at it, and smiled at me, "You are not afraid of that little ghost in the grave, how can a head made of mud scare you like this?" "It's made of mud? Don't lie to me." I was a little puzzled. "Look!" Ah Er stretched out his hand, took the head on the ground in his hand, weighed it a few times, and threw it towards me with a "bass".I instinctively reached out to take it, but before I could react, I felt a sinking in my arms. "Oh my god!" I screamed, and immediately sat down on the ground.And the head in my arms just happened to touch the tip of my nose face to face with me.The rancid smell from my nose was even stronger, and I almost vomited it out. At this moment, my mind was blank, and I sat on the ground holding that thing in my hands, only to see those empty eyes staring at me. "Brother, look clearly." Ah Er pointed his flashlight at the object in my hand, dumbfounded, "It's clearly made of clay." He pointed to the clay sculpture on the altar next to him, "Look, it's from it." .” Only then did I see clearly that there was only one body of the statue on the altar standing there, like a dead body with its head behind.And the "human head" was in my hand at the moment, its eyes were wide open, it was so ugly that I couldn't tell, I was so angry that I threw it to the ground.The human head rolled on the ground a few times, then rolled under the incense table and disappeared.The stench seemed to have subsided a bit. "Brother Yu, what kind of god is this?" Ah Er stretched out his hand to pull me up, looked at the statue and asked me.I exhaled, the dark red bloody headless statue didn't have much clothing on it, only a pair of shoulder armor on its shoulders, and its hands were empty without any magic weapon, only a strange handprint.It's a pity that I don't have much research on handprints. If the old Taoist is here, maybe I can find some clues. "I don't know, I've never seen a statue like this before." I felt something was wrong in my heart, but I couldn't say it for a while.I asked Ah Er: "Second brother, did you smell anything just now?" "What's the smell?" Ah Er twitched his nose a few times, shrugged his shoulders, "No?" I sniffed it hard again, and the smell really disappeared. "Strange..." I muttered. "What's wrong?" Ah Er asked me. I shook my head, feeling that there is evil everywhere here, and this place has not been enshrined and repaired for a long time. I guess the people who eat incense are not good gods, and I also conclude that this place is not suitable for staying for a long time. "Come on, they're not here anymore," I said. Ah Er and I walked around the temple again, but still found nothing.When I was about to go out, I saw the little bear pissing on the pillar, and I couldn't help but feel anxious, nothing happened to it! "Let's go..." Ah Er picked up his gun and walked forward.I followed behind for a few steps, only to feel that my legs were as heavy as lead, and my muscles ached violently.I stayed in the tree for most of the night, and ran after the little bear all the way here. After some frightening and tossing just now, all the sequelae broke out. "Is it okay?" Ah Er turned back and asked me, "No, you can just rest here for a while. We will go find it and come down to pick you up later." "It's okay," I gritted my teeth and leaned the gun on the ground as a crutch, "Let's go." Ah Er took a machete to open the way ahead, and I followed behind dragging my legs.Gradually, a mist drifted from the direction of the sea, and the visibility around him was only about five meters. "Damn, it's almost winter and there's still so much fog." I complained a little irritably, it might be even more difficult to find clues in the fog.I asked about the situation of the rest of the people on the intercom. The old nine and fifteen had almost reached the top of the mountain and hadn't found anything yet; Wang Fugui and the others didn't go up the mountain, but just wandered around below, and it seemed that they didn't get anything. After walking for about twenty minutes, Ah Er in front suddenly stopped and muttered, "Why are you back again?" I took a few steps to catch up with him, leaned against the big tree next to me, and asked pantingly, "What's wrong?" "Look," Ah Er pointed to the looming building in the mist, "We are back again." The undercarriage carrying the stele and the dilapidated temple gate appeared in front of our eyes, and I could even feel that the little bear's piss was still wet.How is this possible?We just came out of the temple, but we have been going up!What's going on here, is it a ghost hitting the wall? Suddenly, the "human head" floated in my mind, especially the pair of angry eyes, empty and strange.I suddenly shivered, did we really provoke "it"? "Go in and have a look!" Ah Er walked towards the gate of the temple with a gun in hand. Before I could stop him, he had already stepped into the temple and disappeared behind the gate.I didn't think much of it, and hurried in. The fog was getting thicker and thicker, and when he walked into the temple, Ah Er was nowhere to be seen. "Second brother..." I yelled a few times, but there was no response.I was annoyed, these three brothers put on an inscrutable appearance all day long, especially Ah Da and Ah Er, who were even colder and more bleak, with a smell of blood foam on their bodies, which always made people involuntarily stay away.Speaking of which, I prefer the slanted-eyed Ah Fifteen. I turned a few times in the fog alone, and suddenly lost my direction.After finally identifying the direction of the main hall, I suddenly felt a strange feeling behind my back, as if someone was peeping at me in the fog. I turned around abruptly, and a black figure swished past in the mist, as if entering the hall. "Old sheep?" I seemed to regain my strength in an instant, chased towards the main hall, and shouted loudly, "Second brother, the old sheep has entered!" Before entering the main hall, a gunshot was heard, and the gunshot spread far in the dark night, followed by a few fighting sounds, as if two people had wrestled together. "Fuck! Don't shoot!" My heart trembled, and I screamed angrily and rushed towards the hall.By the time I rushed to the hall, the sound of fighting had stopped.The hall was much darker than before, which made me even more at a loss. I shone the flashlight on the ground and found a Remington shotgun dropped under the threshold, with some dripping blood beside it, I yelled in my heart, it's over... "Second brother..." I screamed nervously Ah Er, follow the bloodstains to find the past, in the flashlight, a figure appeared behind the altar, it was Ah Er!He was covered in blood, half-lying on the ground, twitching constantly, his hands tightly covering his neck, and a large stream of blood still came out from between his fingers. "Second brother!" I was startled, and hurried over to help him up, "What's wrong?" Ah Er was frothing with blood, his eyes stared straight at the collapsed corner of the hall, and there was only a white mist outside. Several anxious voices came from the intercom: "Who shot?" "What happened?" "Second brother is injured, in the temple on the mountain." I threw away the walkie-talkie, and without thinking too much, I stretched out my hand and opened Ah Er's hand covering his neck.There was a shocking cut in his neck, and blood gushed out.At this time, his body stretched even tighter, twitching from time to time, and his throat made a "gurgling" sound like a broken bellows. I tore off my cotton shirt and bandaged him tightly, and soon the blood soaked the shirt wrapped around his neck.I laid him flat on the ground and took off my clothes to cover him.His eyes kept staring outside, wondering if something that hurt him had escaped from there.And I was also wondering, who is that black shadow? Is it really Yishan goat? At this time, two people rushed in from the outside, they were Lao Jiu and Ah Shiu.I quickly called them over. It seemed that they happened to be nearby and found them following the gunshots. "What's the matter?" Lao Jiu yelled anxiously while running over. He was taken aback when he saw the situation, and shouted: "Second Brother!" Er looked at his eyelids, pressed his pulse again, turned his head and asked me with slanted eyes, "Who did it?" His voice was cold and piercing, full of killing intent. I was afraid that if I answered carelessly, he would shoot me without hesitation. "I didn't see clearly." I smiled wryly and shook my head. Ah Fifteen said no more, bent down to pick up Ah Er who was on the ground, put her on her back, and strode out of the hall. Lao Jiu glanced at me worriedly, patted my shoulder and asked softly, "Are you... all right?" "It's okay," I shook my head and sighed, "Let's go down the mountain." "No more?" "Don't look for it now..." I waved my hands weakly. Walking to the entrance of the main hall, I saw the Remington on the ground, sighed, and bent down to pick it up. Turning around inadvertently, my heart jumped again. The statue standing behind the incense table was staring at me angrily, because on its shoulder was the head with wide eyes! Lao Jiu stood at the door and saw me in a daze, so he called me. "What's wrong?" "Let's go..." Lao Jiu and I walked out of the temple gate.Ah Fifteen carried Ah Er on his back and disappeared into the mist long ago.After identifying the direction with Lao Jiu, I also walked down the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, the car was waiting for us. Ah Wu had already arrived with Ah Er on his back. There was a first aid kit in the car, and everyone was busy bandaging his wound.I went over to see him, his neck was covered with a thick bandage, but blood was still oozing out.Lying in Ah Wu's arms, his expression became much more peaceful, his body was no longer stiff, and it seemed that his life should not be in danger. When Ah Da saw me, he only gave me a deep look. "I'm sorry, brother, I..." His eyes made me feel very guilty.I looked at Ah Er: "Hurry up and send him to the hospital." Ah Da smiled, turned the small hunting knife in his hand a few times, looked at Ah Er and said, "It's okay, he won't die. No need to go to the hospital." I was a little worried: "Second brother is hurt so badly..." Ah Da waved his hand: "It's just a small injury, it's nothing." The hoarse voice was still as ugly as a night owl. Lao Jiu secretly pulled me aside and gave me a wink.I knew there was a reason for it, so I stopped insisting. Wang Fugui approached me and asked me quietly: "Did 'he' do it?" I shook my head and looked back at the forest hidden in the mist. I was extremely exhausted, my eyes went dark, and I staggered.Wang Fugui quickly helped me to the car.I waved my hand weakly, "Let's go back and talk about it." Back at Old Man An's family hotel, it was almost seven o'clock, and another night passed.Everyone hurriedly carried Ah Er in the car into the room, got the first aid kit, and treated Ah Er's wound again.Ah Da found a surgical needle and thread, and skillfully sewed up the wound on his neck.At this moment, I can't help but speculate on their identities. Is there anything else these three people don't know? The big slit about fifteen centimeters was like a big centipede lying on Ah Er's neck, and its shape was exactly the same as that on the neck of the dead big ram. After everything was done, I was relieved to see Ah Er falling asleep on the bed. Walking out of the room, I saw Xiaotao waiting for me outside the door.She looked at me worriedly, her lips moved a few times, but she hesitated to speak.I opened my arms, hugged her, and comforted her: "It's okay..." "Brother..." Xiaotao leaned on my shoulder and whispered, "Let's go home..." I understood what she meant, the dangerous smell made her want to give up.Before that, no one was injured or bled, but Ah Er almost died this time, and the person who injured him was most likely Xiaotao's brother, my brother whom we had been looking for - Yi Shanyang.The strong smell of blood in the air stimulated the nerves of each of us, and Xiao Tao couldn't bear it any longer. She thought it was all because of her.But can we go back? "Well, when we find your brother, we'll go back..." I patted her on the shoulder. "I won't look for it anymore..." Xiaotao cried, "I won't look for it anymore, I don't want him anymore, now he..." "Don't be silly, your brother will be fine..." I grabbed her shoulders and wiped away the tears on her face, "Do you remember that old man?" Xiaotao sobbed and nodded. "When he comes, he will definitely find a solution." I remembered the hexagram image of the old Taoist before he left, "...the sorrow hides, the hurdles are hidden, there is a fu, the heart is prosperous, and there is a hurdle in deeds. Entering Kanti is a great ominous..." Seeing that we have been here for the third day, but the old man, the old man, the second uncle, the second uncle, you deceived me, where are you?With your magical powers, it shouldn't be difficult to find us, but why don't you come? Xiaotao listened to me talking about the old way: her eyes seemed to recover a little.I smiled and said, "Go and get us something to eat, I've been tired all night." She answered and went.Wang Fugui came out from behind me, looked at Xiaotao's back and handed me a cigarette, "Do you think that old way is reliable? Can you still count on it? This is the third day, and there is no sign of anyone. " I lit my cigarette and took a deep puff. "Reliable!" I interrupted him, walked into the bathroom and wiped my face indiscriminately, the cold tap water woke me up.I shook my head and looked at myself in the mirror with a haggard face and red and swollen eyes.