Flame red

Mu Yu doesn't know much about her family's situation. In previous years, at family gatherings, she just huddled in a corner and played with her mobile phone. Occasionally, she would be asked various questions at the dinner table. It was nothing more than being in love or not, trivial troubles in the entertainment industry By the way, he was entrusted by several unnamed relatives to take care of his children, but Mu Yu often followed the eyes of the adults, and those children were still at the age of carrying a small schoolbag and reading the Three Character Classic with spicy sticks.

As the saying goes, there is a three-year gap between generations, and there are clearly several gaps between them. When they grow up, Mu Yu will be sitting in the sun in the square and lamenting how short life is.

But it was not easy to seriously refute the polite words of the elders, so she could only laugh a few times.

Then one year when I heard Mu Xiangzhi's name, an uncle suddenly mentioned at a dinner party that a certain relative's child was as beautiful and handsome as Mu Yu, and was still a school belle in school.

To be honest, Mu Yu still felt that Mu Xiangzhi might be more connotative than his own name, but later he learned that the child's parents were well-known local nouveau riche, who became rich overnight because of stock trading, and had no other amateurs. Hobbies, she then thought to herself that maybe the name Mu Xiangzhi was picked out from the dictionary.

After thinking about it, this kind of boring complaints would naturally not be said openly.Besides, Mu Yu has never met Mu Xiangzhi before, but he just learned from the words of his elders that she is a beautiful girl who is very similar to him, probably combining the advantages of her parents, perfectly avoiding the shortcomings without being disabled.

On the way to Silent Hill, Mu Yu recalled what he had seen, the girls in Yanhong School, and found that maybe it was because of their proficient makeup skills, they were all quite beautiful.

Yan Hong is really handsome, but for the others, she doesn't know whether they have beautiful makeup or beautiful foundation, after all, after looking at them from a distance, they are all the same, and they can't tell the difference.

At first, she was a little worried about whether she could recognize Mu Xiangzhi, and she also considered whether to call her father again.But after arriving at the destination, Mu Yu still found that it was not necessary at all.

Mu Xiangzhi is very beautiful, neatly dressed in a spotless and clean school uniform, with long hair draped over his shoulders, he is well-behaved and docile.But this is not the reason why Mu Yu can recognize her.

——Mu Xiangzhi is beautiful, but the most important thing is that she is the only girl standing under a tree in the street as far as the eye can see, and it is impossible not to be recognized.

So Mu Yu raised his feet and walked towards the place where the child was, halfway through, Mu Xiangzhi turned his head and looked at her quietly.

Plain and natural, waiting for Mu Yu to come to his side.

"Hello." Then he greeted with a smile. "cousin."

The title "cousin" still sounded a bit unfamiliar, but Mu Yu didn't mind, so he let out an oh. "You came early."

"I happened to pass by here on business, and my uncle called to tell you about you."

"Ah, then..."

Knowing what Mu Yu was worried about, Mu Xiangzhi still smiled. "It's okay, things have already been done."

"Well, do you know how to get there?"

"Before I often came back with my father to organize things, so the directions and roads are quite familiar."

Organize things?

Mu Yu blinked, she always thought that everyone in her family had moved out, and there should be only one old house and ruins left in the town.Could it be that there are still people inside all these years?

But Mu Xiangzhi didn't continue to say anything, so she didn't ask any more.

In order to be polite to the older party, Mu Yu invited this strange little cousin to a nearby restaurant for a meal before he was about to enter the mountain, and then he packed up and left the Silent Hill for sightseeing.

While Mu Xiangzhi led Mu Yu to the mountains, he casually said that he just found an old map in that tourist town.

"Old map?" Mu Yu raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, the streets and directions inside correspond to the silent hill in the mountains, not the current one." Mu Xiangzhi said. "Because the structure of the tourist town is completely opposite to the original Silent Hill, someone may look for the toilet on the east side according to the old map, and end up running to the west side."

"That's right." Mu Yu nodded with deep understanding, and then asked with some doubts. "Why do you want to build this tourist town specially according to the opposite structure?"

"My father said that because the previous town was unlucky, some so-called experts suggested that the streets and houses be built in the opposite direction to ward off evil spirits."

"Anything like that?"

"The grown-ups say yes, so I guess they do."

After that, they chatted intermittently about family affairs. Mu Xiangzhi seldom goes to parties, and doesn't know much about relatives. The topic gradually fell silent.

Mu Yu felt that he should still be responsible for this awkward silence, after all, as the older party, he couldn't find a suitable topic, so he felt a little guilty.

But the child didn't seem to mind too much, and led Mu Yu into the mountain forest along a deserted dirt road.

There are no people in the mountains, and the traces of ruts can be vaguely seen on the road, but there is no half of the car passing by, the trees and grass in the front and back, not even a single annoying bird, it is inconceivably quiet.

Even though it's winter, Mu Yu is still a little nervous because of the silence.

Mu Xiangzhi seemed to have gotten used to this quietness, and his footsteps were still relaxed and flat.

"It might be better to ride an electric bike, after all, it will take a while." She said to Mu Yu like this.

"Hey, if you said earlier, I would go to the town to borrow one."

"But electric cars are too loud, which is not good."

"what?"

sound?

Mu Yu frowned, and it took him two seconds to realize the meaning of Mu Xiangzhi's words.Probably, this forest is quiet. If you ride a bicycle, you should break this quietness, and you can hear the sound of their progress from a long distance away.

However, if there is nothing special about it, this noise is not very disturbing.

When Mu Xiangzhi said this, the meaning in his words might not be simply because of too much noise.

Thinking about it carefully, Mu Yu didn't think about it anymore, the most urgent thing now is to find Yan Hong first, no matter whether he lives or dies, he must not be distracted by other things.

They walked all the way for more than an hour, and Mu Xiangzhi pointed to the forked intersection in front of him. There was a faded street sign hanging on a dead tree in the middle.Mu Yu took out his mobile phone and looked at it, he was still able to connect to the network, it seems that it is not a desolate place with no signal.

But she looked at the two forked roads again, and found that no matter which side was overgrown with weeds, there were few people.

"Do you and your father often go back to this kind of place?" Mu Yu subconsciously asked.

Mu Xiangzhi hummed. "My parents are quite scrupulous about rules, and often come back to clean the ancestral hall during festivals."

"Looking at the situation on the road, I guess there is no one there?"

"The town was abandoned many years ago, and the remaining ancestral halls are still there."

"I see."

Mu Yu nodded, and followed Mu Xiangzhi to the forked road on the left. After walking not far, he saw a collapsed brick house in the woods. After passing the brick house, he saw rows of low houses hidden here. In the quiet bushes, there are rows of unsigned tombstones, which make people feel chills on their backs.

As Mu Xiangzhi said, there is no one in the town, weeds are overgrown on the bluestone road, and many houses have dilapidated doors and windows, and the same messy and dilapidated furnishings can be glimpsed inside.But in the depths of the village, there is an ancestral hall that is extremely clean. Although it has not been renovated, it can be seen that it has been carefully maintained when you look at the gate. It must be the ancestral hall of their family that Mu Xiangzhi said.

There is a brass lock on the door, and it is impossible to get in now.

"That's right." Mu Xiangzhi turned his head and glanced at Mu Yu as if thinking of something. "This place is so run-down, what are you doing here?"

I didn't ask about this on the way, and I asked suddenly when I arrived in the town, which was probably expected.It may not be important whether Mu Yu says it or not, the important thing is that he is here, and it is completely impossible not to work under Mu Xiangzhi's nose.

That child can ask like this, maybe he doesn't care whether to stop Mu Yu or not, but just plays a supervisory role.

Up to now, lying will only delay time, but it is not realistic to tell the whole story, after all, Mu Yu himself does not understand the specific situation, so she can only pick the key points to perfunctory. "Nothing, find a friend."

"Oh, it's not very suitable for sightseeing here."

"That's right, that's why I want to find her and go back together."

"That's it." Mu Xiangzhi nodded obediently, pointed to the house next to him, and said again with some worry. "But although this place is not big, the terrain is complicated. Can you find it?"

—Can you find it?

Mu Yu himself is not sure.She looked around and said flatly, "Try it."

"What if I can't find it?" Mu Xiangzhi continued to ask.

"That's out of my scope."

When the sound of footsteps came from the entrance of the town, the pale, slender and sickly girl-shaped monster lazily turned over on the smooth floor of the ancestral hall, and raised its eyebrows when it sat up.

"Oh, interesting." She sighed in such a low voice, her face seemed a little bit surprised.

But Yanhong didn't have any intention to ask what the other party thought was interesting.Now she is doing her best just to keep her consciousness clear. There is an indistinct golden mist floating in the dim ancestral hall. It seems to be an out-of-season flower fragrance. A little bit penetrated into the thoughts and blood, and then, like a lullaby, urged the resisting consciousness to sleep peacefully.

If you relax for a few seconds, you will definitely lose consciousness.Yan Hong knew this very well, she clenched her teeth and stared at the little bit of skylight penetrating through the crack of the door.

There were voices of people talking outside, like two women.Although she wanted to know who it was, it was difficult for her erratic consciousness to recognize the sounds from the outside world. She just instinctively heard someone talking and thought that someone was coming from outside the door.

Who will come to this place?In the barren and dilapidated town far away from the world, even the once proud stage has faded and collapsed, leaving half of the wreckage covered by turquoise vines.

Yan Hong turned her head and glanced at the spirit tablet enshrined in the center of the ancestral hall, on which was written a name she didn't know, if she didn't care about it and only looked at it from the surname——

This is the ancestral hall of the Mu family.

Mu Yu said that she was born in Silent Hill.It seems that this is where the man grew up.

"Originally." The monster casually sighed and murmured to himself, but Yan Hong felt that maybe these words were meant for herself. "I wanted to lure that girl named Yang Bai over here, but I didn't expect that the one who came here in the end was such a difficult guy."

——Attract Yang Bai?

Yanhong wants to ask what exactly you want to do.But as soon as she opened her mouth, the sweet mist in the air poured into her throat, causing her to cough.And with such a cough, the wound on his waist was torn open.

"Hey, hey, don't mess around." The monster turned to look at her, and frowned, but his expression didn't show the slightest bit of nervousness. "It's a pity that a good pair of skins leave scars. If Yang Bai can't be found, I can use it for another 20 years."

"You... really are..." I don't know if there is any metaphor in my cognition to describe the actions of the monster in front of me, Yan Hong gritted her teeth and paused for a long time before throwing out a sentence. "Painted skin."

"How can you say painted skin?" The monster seemed to be dissatisfied with her description, and corrected her. "I use all the skins of beautiful girls that are ready-made."

"..."

"Although, after all, this skin of yours can't withstand the passage of time and becomes decayed, and it will even be destroyed by your compatriots for various nasty reasons when used, but it is still much more practical than that stinky mountain ghost .”

Yan Hong took two deep breaths, let the pain in her waist wake up her drowsy consciousness, tried to move her fingers, but found that she still couldn't use any strength.

She stared at the slender but terrifying monster, remembering what was said in the book, the more seemingly weak things may hide the more terrifying danger.

"Does it make sense?" Yanhong asked casually.

The monster shook his head. "It doesn't look like it, but after your steel city has flattened one swamp after another, our way of survival has become disguised as human beings and lingering on."

"It's disgusting."

"Yeah, it's really annoying." Seeing that Yan Hong narrowed his eyes slightly, the monster raised the corners of his mouth and smiled. "So, is it too much for me to do this?"

Yan Hong didn't answer, and she didn't know whether she couldn't think of how to answer, or simply felt that this question made her uncomfortable.She was sitting under the rows of spirit cards, looking at the weak but pale monster in front of her, and suddenly asked: "How did Yang Bai's mother die?"

"Huh? Don't you all know?" the monster asked back in surprise.

"……I have no idea."

"Well, it's better not to know."

Unexpectedly being rejected like this, Yan Hong originally thought that the thoughts of the monster in front of her should be indifferent to human beings' actions, even if she talked about some amazing past, it would have no effect on herself.Standing aside or even indifferent, often this kind of bystander does not hide too many secrets, and does not care who he is sharing such secrets with.

But the monster said it was better not to know.

She looked up at the other party, and unexpectedly found that the expression on the monster's face was a little subtle, so subtle that it was hard to figure it out.

This wasn't an expression of entanglement or disgust, but instead, it was a kind of helplessness.

——Tell me, why do things like this always happen?So-and-so died, but you still have such a long time to suffer from the memory.

She said to Yan Hong so suddenly.

In the dim ancestral hall with distinct lights and shadows, Yan Hong's thoughts were made drowsy by the bursts of golden mist, but the face that came into view now was also because of this drowsy feeling. Consciousness gradually blurred.

However, when she blinked and was about to say something, the monster suddenly raised a familiar, cold and irrelevant smile, stretched her waist, turned and walked towards the door, her voice was soft, with a half-smile . "The guests are here, so happy."

At the same time, the sound of the lock breaking was heard, and the gate of the ancestral hall was pushed open little by little with an old bang.