Chapter 113 Double Happiness Town (14) Xu Zhaigui
The person squatting behind the gauze curtain and burning paper is a hunchbacked old man, wearing black clothes, black cloth shoes, and a black hat. From head to toe, only his hair is white.
He had no intention of paying attention to the player. He only stretched out his swollen fingers, picked up pieces of yellow paper, and put them into the brazier in front of him.
Qisi asked: "Old man, who are you burning paper for?"
The old man did not look back and replied in a hoarse voice: "This is sending a message to the Goddess of Joy. ”
"Send a message?"
"I am burning prayer paper, and I am silently reciting what I want to say in my heart. Your Majesty can see it over there."
Qisi touched it with interest. Chin: "How are you sure that the Goddess of Joy is literate? What if she can't read?"
The old man was silent for a second, then suddenly turned his head: "What do you know, this young man? You just know nonsense!"
Qisi could see clearly that the old man had the same wrinkled face as Mrs. Xu, but without the white powder, he looked darker and more like a living person.
After waiting for a few breaths, before Qisi could speak, the old man thought he had frightened the person, so he continued to burn the yellow paper.
Qisi leaned over and squatted down, picked up a few pieces of yellow paper, and slowly put them into the brazier.
Du Xiaoyu couldn't understand what Qisi wanted to do, but considering that it was more reliable to trust the veteran players than to trust himself, he followed suit and grabbed a stack of paper to burn.
Shang Qingbei looked at the suddenly growing paper-burning army, his eyelids twitching slightly: "Qi Wen, what are you doing?"
Qi Si didn't even raise his head: "Here. An acquaintance of mine burned paper and felt that these ghostly things in strange games should be more effective than outside. Maybe they can really send messages? "
Shang Qingbei: "..." Is this old player sick?
The temple was eerily quiet. The breaths of several people were masked by the roar of the flames, as if it was empty, without ghosts or gods.
The curtain between the ear room and the corridor flutters in the breeze, like a drop of blood falling into clear water and letting it scatter.
Beside the burning brazier, the old man in black hunched his back and lowered his head, but his expression was focused and serious. The hand holding the yellow paper was shaking a little, and he put the pieces of paper into the fire unsteadily.
The yellow paper was scorched black and curled by the fire. In a few seconds, it shrank like a rotten corpse and merged into the black ash that had already accumulated. Only a few fragments were steamed up by the heat. Then it dismembered into invisible particles in the air.
Qisi burned the paper for a while and said abruptly: "Old man, what do you want to say to the God of Joy when you burn so many sutra papers?"
The old man said impatiently: "Just burn it, why? So much nonsense? You always say the same thing every year, please protect me and keep us safe.”
The firelight reflected on his face, making it difficult to distinguish. Show specific expressions.
Qisi raised his eyebrows slightly: "Do you always come here to burn paper and pray for blessings?"
"Yes, I am in charge of this temple."
"I heard from Mrs. Xu that there are ghosts in your town, and they all come here to pray to the Goddess of Happiness to suppress them?" Qisi put on a gossipy attitude, with moderate curiosity in his eyes, as if he simply wanted to hear more about the strange stories of the country. Good things for tourists, just ask and listen casually.
The old man's expression changed, the corners of his eyes and mouth twitched together, and his face was twisted like a snake in a ditch, as if he had thought of something extremely sad.
Qisi pretended to be ignorant and said with a smile: "Your town holds weddings all day long and looks lively and festive. The boatman who brought us here also said that the water here is good, and we can gather wealth. Fuyuan, it doesn’t look like the feng shui is haunted.”
He didn’t tell the truth. The old man was silent for a long time, threw the yellow paper in his hand to the ground, and sighed: “What a sin.”
It is obvious that he knows something.
Du Xiaoyu and Shang Qingbei held their breath, moved closer, and raised their ears to listen carefully.
The old man stopped talking abruptly.
Qisi asked: "Did something happen?"
The old man shook his head: "What's the matter? We are peaceful and peaceful, and we have the blessing of the Goddess of Joy, so we can What's going on?"
"Oh?" Qisi pretended to be surprised, stood up and took a few steps back, pointing back to the other room, "What's going on with those coffins?"< br>
Six identical coffins lay smoothly, motionless and silent. The black color of the whole body is incompatible with the blood-red Temple of Happiness, which is particularly eye-catching.
Shang Qingbei now understood that when he went over to burn the paper, he was not sending a message to an acquaintance as he said, but just wanted to get close to the old man and ask for more information.
As expected, I can't believe a word of "Qi Wen"'s words... Shang Qingbei's eyes darkened, and he once again deepened his impression and judgment.
Qisi held the identity card on his chest in his hand, playing with it one after another: "Old man, are all the newly deceased people in the coffin? It is such a custom to place the coffin in the temple. It’s quite rare.”
The old man is probably literate. After seeing the words “Folklore Investigator” on the ID card, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepened.
He put down the yellow paper in his hand, stood up with his hands on his waist, and stared straight at Qiss with a pair of wrinkled eyes, as if he wanted to see the soul through the flesh.
After a while, he opened his toothless mouth and let out a "ho-ho" sound like a broken bellows: "After seven days of rest, you will be a member of the town."
Qisi Suddenly raising his eyes, he saw that the rough skin on the old man's face suddenly peeled off layer by layer like an onion, revealing the blue-black flesh underneath, like the patina inside a faded statue.
“Let’s go!” Shang Qingbei was the first to react and shouted.
Before he finished speaking, he hugged the dictionary tightly, turned around and rushed to the door.
Qisi put his hand on the destiny pocket watch, wanting to take a few more glances.
The next second, the stench of decay hit his face, and the skin and flesh all over the old man's body began to squirm like water waves. Fat white maggots came out from under his skin and wormed their way into the rotten flesh that was overflowing with water. Drill out.
Countless unknown black bugs emerged from his mouth and nose, covering his whole body like a wave. He became shorter inch by inch. To be precise, he was eaten away by the insects inch by inch.
…Excuse me.
Qisi decisively gave up the idea of observing for a while longer to look for clues, and stepped back step by step, trying not to make any noise to disturb other beings in the temple.
Du Xiaoyu crossed the threshold with one foot and was the first to see the scene outside.
He jumped back as if frightened, pointed to the door, tongue tied: "You... look, what... is that?"
Qisi looked in the direction he indicated. Go, white fog is billowing outside the Temple of Joy, and gray shadows stand scattered in the fog, approaching slowly.
The nearest shadow is already five steps away. It can be clearly seen that it is a statue in wedding clothes. Many parts of the body are faded, but the face is intact. It uses red and white to outline a strange and huge smile. .
“Close the door,” said Zeiss.
Du Xiaoyu cried with a mournful face: "Isn't that just like closing the door and beating the dog?"
Qisi turned his head and looked at the ear chamber on the right. After eating the old man, the black bugs turned into The black smoke dissipated, leaving only a piece of black clothing falling lightly to the ground, which was soon covered with tender white maggots. A "click" sound came from the direction of the God of Joy statue, mixed with the "crack" sound of paint chips falling to the ground.
The two statues of a man and a woman under the God of Joy moved, stood up stiffly from the ground, and walked towards the player awkwardly.
"There are seven statues outside the door." Shang Qingbei managed to maintain his calmness and made a judgment, "If the door is closed, it is three to two, and if it is not closed, it is three to nine."
Du Xiaoyu huddled behind Qisi and suggested in a low voice: "How about we rush out? Then spread out and run, maybe we can escape..."
Qisi took a step back and moved Du Xiaoyu in front of him: " You can run out and try, come on, I'm optimistic about you."
Du Xiaoyu: "..."
As he spoke, the statues in the mist came closer, and the nearest one was away from the threshold. There was only one step, as if he would put his face over at any time.
You can also clearly see the faces of the statues a little further away. They have the same bright red smiling faces, but the brows and eyes are full of sorrow, as if the smiles were forcibly concave and fixed.
Shang Qingbei no longer hesitated, pushed the left half door with difficulty, and slammed it shut. Qisi pushed open the right half door, grabbed the door bolt, and inserted the two doors together.
Behind him, two statues of a man and a woman seemed to be moving, grinning brightly, grinning from the corners of their mouths to the corners of their eyes, waving their arms wildly like a dance, and staggering over.
“We are locked up inside!” Du Xiaoyu was shaking like a sieve, and his voice was crying.
People are afraid of ghosts and ghosts. In the final analysis, they are afraid of death; and in the face of death, everyone is fragile.
Shang Qingbei’s lips turned white from his own bites. When the Temple of Joy is surrounded by ghosts and monsters, closing the door is the best decision, but it may not be a way out.
Being in a closed space with two ghosts, it is only a matter of time before they are destroyed.
"Dong, dong, dong..."
Knocking on the door of the temple sounded again and again, like a test and a threat.
“Giggle, giggle…”
In the temple, two statues danced and laughed like silver bells.
Du Xiaoyu's legs were trembling, but he put his hand into his pants and felt for a long time, and took out a crumpled talisman paper.
Formal players, no matter how incompetent they are, will not have no prop reserves.
Just, are ordinary props really useful?
Qisi leaned on the coffin and looked sideways into the depths of the temple. His hand happened to hold the soul-killing nails nailed to the corner of the coffin, and his eyelashes were slightly lowered.
Since entering this dungeon, everything that has happened has been too weird; everyone seems to be pushed by an unknown force, traveling along the planned route...
I got conflicting clues on the first day, and the information provided by important NPCs directly related to the main mission was directly wrong.
As a puzzle game, it floods players with a large number of distractions from the beginning. It is full of malice no matter from which angle it is viewed, as if it is a deliberate attack that wants to kill people...
Cheating in gambling is inherently dangerous, and those who are caught cheating are bound to suffer backlash and punishment.
Qisi raised his head and looked sideways.
Above the shrine, the red-clothed god lowered his scarlet eyes with compassion and a joking smile.
...
[Side mission (must do): Escape from Xu's house]
On the other side, a woman in a complicated wedding dress huddled in the corner of the house, holding her breath and muttering.
After triggering the side mission in Xi'er's room, Li Yao and Liu Bingding were separated, and the surrounding scene became unfamiliar.
The house in Sanjin is surrounded by layers of buildings, which does not look like a modern system. The servants wearing mandarins and pigtails passing by in the corridors further confirmed her judgment——
She returned to Double Happiness Town hundreds of years ago.
The sound of "tapping" footsteps sounded in the distance, and two servants walked through the half-moon-shaped doorway and came over, talking to each other.
"Miss, it is true that she insists on marrying that boy. If you ask me, you should throw that boy into the well. Knowing so much, keeping him will be a disaster after all."
" Haha, what are you afraid of? The county magistrate turns a blind eye. How much trouble can a small county magistrate make? "
"That's right, but the goods on hand must be made as soon as possible? Get rid of it and don’t let anyone get caught with it.”
"It's not difficult to deal with. There are so many people in towns near and far who are in need of wives..."
Li Yao was a little confused at first, but after hearing the last sentence, her eyes turned cold.
Combined with the previous reports found in Xi'er's room, she already had a clear guess about the world view of this copy...
The two servants got closer and closer, stopping in front of the wing. He glanced inside and his voice became alarmed.
“The lady is missing!”
"Go and tell the old lady, don't run out with that boy!"
Li Yao has now completely confirmed her identity, and she should be the "Miss" in the servant's mouth.
The servant screamed loudly, but his movements remained steady. He continued to move forward along the previous path, and soon he was only three steps away from where she was hiding.
From Li Yao's perspective, you can see their pale faces and the blush on both sides of their cheeks. There is a crack in the mouth painted with red paint, and the upper and lower flaps are opening and closing, emitting a fake human voice.
They were not living people at all, they were actually paper figures with the same height as real people, wearing clothes made of paper, and they were swaying in the wind.
[There are many paper soldiers and horses in the town, and the sun is dark. Zhang Sheng was trapped in a nightmare, his body was broken, and he was in a coma and didn't know why he came]
A large number of horror stories related to the paper man surged through Li Yao's mind in an instant, and she felt a chill down her back.
"So you are here..."
Behind my ears, a high-pitched voice sounded faintly, and cold breath blew on the back of my neck.
Li Yao turned back stiffly, and a strange smile from the corner of her mouth to the corner of her eyes was pressed against the tip of her nose, eerie and terrifying.
Thanks to Chengan Aba Aba Aba for the 100-point reward!
(End of this chapter)