Chapter 101 Shuangxi Town (2) Xi Temple
“Ah, ah, is this a distinguished guest from the county?”
A high-pitched voice continued the narration and shouted, from There was a sound from a low house to the right of the players.
With a "squeak", the wooden door covered with red paper-cut was pushed open from the inside, revealing the dark hall. A little old lady about 1.5 meters tall walked out on tiptoes, stretching out her arms. A finger pointed up and down at the head of Qiss.
“You have come at the right time. Xi’er is getting married, and the town is about to make a big deal for her. I can guarantee that we can’t handle all the important things from far and near here!”< br>
The little old lady's wrinkled face was frighteningly white, and she applied two blushers on her face. She was also wearing a festive red dress, even her cloth shoes were red, and a yellow-white foot wrap wrapped around her inverted cone-shaped feet. Her legs always make people suspicious that she cannot stand firmly and will fall down if touched.
She smiled and said: "My surname is Xu, old lady. Just call me 'Sister-in-law Xu' like the kids in this town!"
Qisi took half a step back to avoid the spitting stars. , subconsciously raised his hand to touch the side of his face, and felt a rough patch.
He raised his eyebrows and touched his chin. The fine stubble was a little prickly, as if he hadn't shaved in a long time.
Did this copy change the player's appearance? Then why can Du Xiaoyu still recognize him?
Zeiss fell into thought.
Sister-in-law Xu said enthusiastically, "I'll arrange a place for you to stay! This battle was only held in 17749! Compared with our place, other places are better. It’s all about children playing house...”
It seems that the reason why the “folk custom investigators” came to Shuangxi Town was to experience a traditional Chinese wedding.
What the players have to do is to collect clues while investigating Cai Feng to find the whereabouts of the missing Xu Wen.
What Qis hates most is tasks such as finding, rescuing, and protecting people. It is very troublesome to connect with strangers.
He could never understand that people were lost when they were lost, and died when they were dead. Why would the survivors who were still alive dwell on the past, and even involve themselves in it.
Liu Bingding took out the photo on the back of the name tag and handed it to Mrs. Xu: "Sister-in-law Xu, have you seen this person? She is my friend. She said she came to your Shuangxi Town. There has been no news for a while. "
Sister-in-law Xu narrowed her eyes, lowered her head and stared at the photo for a long time, and shook her head: "I didn't see it. I'm old and have a bad memory."
She was evasive, obviously hiding something.
As part of the main task, finding people will not be easy to complete.
Du Xiaoyu followed Qisi closely and changed the topic at the right time: "Hey, does the girl in your town only get married once every forty-nine years?"
Sister-in-law Xu turned her back to the player, two words The thin legs swayed flexibly, leading the way: "Every year, people get married, but this time is different. Xi'er has a good life, let the whole town help her do it!"
"Isn't that great? ?" Qisi raised the corner of his lips, "If we hold one in forty-nine, the whole town should do it together. I'm afraid it's not just a wedding."
Sister-in-law Xu grinned: "I won't hide it. You said, we are not only celebrating a happy event this time, the main thing is to get together and worship the God of Joy. It is an old rule passed down hundreds of years ago. Every forty-nine years, a girl with good luck is chosen. The grand ceremony will make the Goddess of Happiness happy."
Qisi raised his eyebrows: "Who is the Goddess of Happiness? Sister-in-law, please tell us. Let's come here. This is the collection of these stories.”
The group of people walked slowly, led by Mrs. Xu, and arrived at a temple-like building in the center of the town.
The two-entry building is surrounded by a circle of small white houses covered in red and colorful decorations. The newly painted vermilion doorposts support the bright yellow eaves, and two red lanterns hang under the eaves. The word "囍" is written in golden handwriting.
Sister-in-law Xu stopped and raised her hand to point at the temple that was as red as blood: "This is the Temple of Joy, and the Goddess of Joy is sitting inside - do you want to go in and pay homage?"
The temple door is wide open, like a monster opening its bloody mouth, tempting people to enter.
Chis glanced inside.
Both sides of the room were filled with red incense candles, their flames swaying; the shrine was placed in the deepest part, against the wall, and the red dress of the god could be vaguely seen under the curtain, but the face could not be seen.
From the angle where the players are standing, they can only see a pair of stone statues kneeling at the feet of the statue. They appear to be a man and a woman, both wearing bright red wedding clothes and making worship gestures.
Perhaps it is the uncanny valley effect, this picture gives people an indescribably weird feeling.
Qisi didn’t want to go in head first. He had to trick someone to explore the way.
Considering his position at the moment, he withdrew his gaze and bumped the hiking bag on his back: "Our luggage is heavy and we are tired after walking all the way. Let's find a place to settle down first and then come and say goodbye. Of course. If you have any special requirements, you have to go in and pay homage when you pass by, that’s fine with us.”
——At worst, if the situation is not right, just run away. If you can't run away, just use the fate pocket watch.
“No rush, no rush, you have to stay here for seven days, you have plenty of time!” Mrs. Xu smiled brightly, and white powder fell from her face like sheep dung eggs, “Pack it up The good guest room is just ahead. It’s not far away. You guys have a good rest. I’ll tell you about the Goddess of Joy.”
The group set off again, Mrs. Xu spoke quietly. The ground rang: "The Goddess of Joy in our town is the most effective. The newlyweds join hands to worship each other, and let the Queen see it in her eyes. The two of them will never be separated for the rest of their lives. The Queen loves to hear the newlyweds laugh the most. I hate heartless people. If anyone changes his mind, the Queen will not forgive him!”
“It is said that the Goddess of Joy was also a girl hundreds of years ago, but she fell in love with a heartless man. The empress left and never came back. The empress was so heartbroken that she threw herself into a well at the west end of the town. Before she died, she made a great wish to be a guarantor for the new couple..."
Sister-in-law Xu's steps suddenly stopped. Stopped.
She pointed to a house in front of her: "It's inside. I'll take you with me. Don't walk around after you go in and bump into the bride."
The house is not big, and there are only one person who can enter it. The tiles are broken, and several pieces of wall coverings are missing, but there are layers of bright red curtains hanging from the eaves; red cloth flowers and paper-cuts are piled up noisily, making the dilapidated old house colorful.
Qisi said with a half-smile but not a smile: "I'm afraid it's not suitable for foreigners to live with the bride."
"Other families in the town can't make room, but Xi'er is here. There is a room available. In the past, guests would stay here." Mrs. Xu stepped forward and opened the door, turning to look at everyone, "She will get married tomorrow, and no one will live in this house from now on." br>
Qisi asked: "Is Miss Xi'er an orphan?"
He followed Mrs. Xu through the door and saw a half-decorated house. The west side is covered with red silk and paper-cut window grilles, and the whole thing is brightly red; the east side only has a few "囍" characters sporadically pasted on it, which looks cleaner and more distinct.
"Yes, Xi'er has been suffering since she was a child. She has no father and no mother, and has grown up eating a lot of food. But once you pass the education, you won't have to suffer in the future."
I don't know if that's true. Because of the lack of light in the courtyard, Sister-in-law Xu's voice had a twilight tone, as blurry as the fog on the lake.
She pointed to the east wing and said: "You guys can stay here for the next few days. I will bring food to you later. Don't run to the west wing, or you will scare Xi'er. It’s not good.”
The five players were already standing in the courtyard. Mrs. Xu turned her back and was about to leave from the door. The moment she was about to cross the threshold, Li Yao suddenly said: "Sister-in-law Xu, I see that you have just done a white matter here. The red and white matters have been done before and after. The devil is not gone, and people collide with ghosts. I'm afraid there will be disaster."
She waved the wad of paper money in her hand, which fell from the sky when the narration sounded.
Sister-in-law Xu squinted her eyes, the wrinkles on her face bunched up: "What are you afraid of? Our town specializes in organizing this kind of wedding, and people near and far beg us to do it for them. There is a way to celebrate and mourn. I've been walking like this for hundreds of years and nothing has happened."
Li Yao said coldly: "It's a little luck if nothing happens, but it's a big bad luck if something happens."
Sister-in-law Xu "Haha. ” He sneered twice: “Newly dead ghosts cannot become evil. There is Yang fire on the shoulders of strangers. As long as the fire is not extinguished, it can burn the little ghost to death!”
"You kid blowing out the lamp, you can't say whether it will be extinguished or not."
Sister-in-law Xu seemed to be annoyed, her eyelids rolled up and down, and she turned around and left without saying a word.
It wasn't until her back disappeared outside the door that Liu Bingding asked curiously: "Li Yao, what are you doing with that old woman? She sounds pretty powerful."
Li Yao Yao shook his head slightly: "It's nothing. The supernatural theories here are different from those outside."
The house was extremely quiet and brightly decorated with lights, but the players could not feel any festive and auspicious atmosphere.
It was said that a bride lived in the west wing, but at first glance she could only see the dark windows, which didn't look like anyone was living inside at all.
Not only here, the whole town is like this. There are obviously people, but there is no smoke and smoke. It is as quiet as a huge tomb.
Liu Bingding opened the door of the wing first and walked in. Zeiss followed.
According to Mrs. Xu, this empty room has not been occupied for a long time. But the cleanliness is much better than expected. The furnishings such as beds and wooden tables do not look dilapidated, and there is not much dust accumulation. It does not irritate the player's face when opening the door.
The wing room may not look big, but the layout makes full use of every space. Perhaps it was specially modified for people to live in. With six beds placed in a row, it doesn't look crowded. It looks more like a common Datong bunkhouse in the last century.
Shang Qingbei held up his glasses and analyzed: "Sister-in-law Xu said that all the guests came here to stay, so Xu Wen should also have stayed here, and maybe there will be some clues."
"Not bad." Qi Si smiled approvingly, "There are three situations. The first is that she is not a guest. Mrs. Xu's surname is Xu, and her surname is also Xu. Maybe she is a resident of the town."
"The second is, She is related to Shuangxi Town, but she has not been back for a long time and does not have a house. Third, she has nothing to do with Shuangxi Town and is simply here to investigate folk customs."
"The results of the latter two situations. It's consistent that she came to Xi'er temporarily and was probably our previous guest."
"Why do you think Xu Wen is our previous guest?" Du Xiaoyu asked, not understanding. "What if there are other guests coming between her and us? Didn't Sister-in-law Xu say that we have to come to them for all matters of public and private affairs, far and near, then there should be many people coming."
Qisi answered patiently: "The boatman said that we have ferried a boatload of people this month, which means that no other guests came here in the previous month. And I believe that as Xu Wen's relatives and friends, we are waiting for her It was already too late to find her after being missing for more than a month."
Shang Qingbei frowned: "How can you be sure that the boatman is telling the truth?"< br>
“That’s not necessary.” Qisi shook his head. “His motive for telling me what he said was to show that he didn’t know about Xu Wen’s disappearance. If he wanted to lie to us, he could have just said that he had never seen the female passenger. , instead of choosing the lie that is easiest to expose. "
"Of course, it can also be assumed that all NPCs have made false statements and deliberately passed on false information to us, so this copy will not be able to continue playing. Wait for your character to die, and wish you good luck.”
The tone of the words that followed did not change, but listening to the content, it was obvious that he was offended by Shang Qingbei’s bullying behavior.
Liu Bingding glanced at Shang Qingbei and then looked at Qisi: "That's the truth! Let's look for it. Maybe Xu Wen left some key information in this room and specially led us to find her. . ”
The man went straight to the wooden table by the window, opened the drawer and rummaged through it, raising a puff of dust, obviously wanting to show his support for Chiss through action.
Chis smiled and looked at it for a while, then suddenly came forward and put his hand into his trouser pocket.
Liu Bingding was so frightened that he hid sideways.
Qisi had already taken out the contents of his trouser pocket, held it in his hand and waved it up.
It was a smartphone, with a red casing and a pitch-black screen. The style looked quite trendy.
The expressions of the players all changed.
Du Xiaoyu blurted out: "How did you bring it in? I remember they didn't sell it in the mall..."
Shang Qingbei also stared at Liu Bingding with a solemn expression.
Bringing his mobile phone into the game made him think of the secret of "weird invasion".
Weirdness can penetrate into reality, and maybe reality can penetrate in reverse?
Could this be related to the prophecy about the "Gate" that the Guild received not long ago?
"Liu Bingding didn't bring it in, it should be the clue sent to us by this copy. Next time you encounter this kind of thing, you should try your best to bring it to the table. This is a team copy and there is no confrontation attribute. "Qisi said solemnly and pressed the power button.
The screen saver of the mobile phone is a strange and poignant photo: people in red clothes and red masks are carrying a bright red wedding sedan, playing and beating; but white paper money is scattered in the air, accumulating on the top of the sedan. One level.
Liu Bingding was completely confused: "I didn't even know this thing existed. When did it appear in my pocket? If I had known, I would have taken it out long ago!"
< br>
No one said anything for a moment.
The existence of massacre players is not a secret. According to the statistics of the forum, there is one massacre player for every five people, and this copy has exactly five players. The number is very subtle.
Although rationally, Liu Bingding's behavior does not seem like he has a ghost in his heart, no one has the kindness to stand up for a stranger.
"I really don't have to. I still haven't figured out what this copy is. How dare I keep a clue that I don't know if it will be used?" Liu Bingding defended with a sad face.
Qisi smiled pretending not to care: "Forget it, there was no time to exchange clues along the way. Liu Bingding probably just didn't have time to take out his phone. The team copy requires us to unite and work together to decipher the world view. , next I hope you can put aside your grudges and work together.”
He recalled for no reason the declaration of "A Community with a Shared Future for Mankind" posted by the Kyushu Guild on the forum, and smiled strangely for a moment.
Under the gaze of everyone, he lowered his eyes at the right moment and raised the phone in his hand: "Without further ado, let's see what clues there are in this phone first."
(End of this chapter) )