[Infinite] End Game

They are surrounded by tall trees.

The trunk extends straight upwards, the leaves are needle-shaped, and the taupe bark occasionally cracks, exposing the reddish inner bark inside.

"This is a fir tree." Molly's voice came from the front of the line: "This is all here."

The staggered canopy of the trees almost covered the sky, and the road under their feet was twisted and twisted. It took them more than ten minutes to pass through the fir forest.

At the end of the path, about ten meters away from them, a village was gradually revealed in the rain and fog, and the wind that blew towards the crowd also sent subtle sounds.

"There is music in that village." Molly stopped, closed her eyes to discern, and then said in a unhappy voice, "It's like mourning."

funeral music.

Hearing these two words, everyone's hearts sank.At this moment, a bell rang together with a rattling sound.

Everyone looked over reflexively, and found that a carriage was approaching at their side, and the sound they heard was the bell tied under the horse's neck and the sound of the horse's hoof trampling on the ground.

There is no shed for the carriage, only a few wide planks and two large wheels are spliced ​​to form the body of the carriage.

No one was seen driving the car at the shaft, but the car was full of people in white clothes.All of them were wearing strange white high hats, because they lowered their heads and couldn't see their faces clearly in the mist and rain, but the degree of lowering their heads was exactly the same.

The carriage full of people turned into the opposite village some distance away from them, and soon, the sound of bells and horseshoes disappeared into the rainy and foggy country road together with the figure of the carriage.

Someone in the crowd took a small breath.Huo Feng, who stood at the front, was silent for a while, and said to everyone, "Let's go."

After speaking, he took the lead and walked out.

Tang Yu was at the end, and just as he was about to follow, there was a soft rustling sound from the grass under a fir tree beside him, and the knee-high grass also moved.

Tang Yu's footsteps stopped, he hesitated for a moment, and walked over on the principle of not letting go if he had a clue, picked up a branch from the ground and carefully pushed aside the grass.

As soon as a gap was opened, a raised plush ear was exposed.Tang Yu opened his eyes wide in surprise, and found that it was a little milk dog covered in pitch black.

Probably due to staying in the rain for a long time, the little milk dog's hair is all in strands, sticking to the body pitifully, only the ears are still standing upright.Feeling the movement, the little milk dog stood up with its front legs spread apart, and looked straight at Tang Yu with its black eyes.

"..." The branch in Tang Yu's hand stopped in the air, and fell into a strange silence.

Why is there a dog at the entrance of the village? Whose family ran out?

Just as Tang Yu was thinking, Si Yan on the other side noticed that Tang Yu hadn't followed, so he urged him.Tang Yu turned around and made a "come right away" gesture, then turned back again to look at the little milk dog in the grass.

The little milk dog also looked at Tang Yu with a tacit understanding, first moved his pink nose and sniffed lightly, then opened his watery eyes, and let out a small "Woo...".

Tang Yu's expression became even more rigid. After a few seconds of confrontation, Tang Yu suddenly bent down and picked up the little milk dog, hugged him in his arms, and followed quickly as if nothing had happened.

"What's wrong?" Si Yan walked to Tang Yu's side and couldn't help asking.

"It's nothing." Tang Yu opened his arms slightly, letting the young man take a look at the milk dog in his arms, and said, "Squatting in the grass, I don't know whose family it is."

"Eh? It's so small, it's so fun." Si Yan's eyes lit up, and he stretched out his finger to tease, but before he poked the milk dog's forehead, the little milk dog, which was nestled firmly in Tang Yu's arms, suddenly raised his head , biting at Si Yan.

"Hey!" The boy quickly retracted his fingers, but he was still startled.Si Yan glanced at the little milk dog again, and then he said with lingering fear: "It's quite fierce, but it's a black dog anyway, keep it, maybe it can ward off evil spirits."

Tang Yu nodded, and followed the team with the little milk dog he picked up.

After entering the village, the sound of funeral music became clear.

A group of people followed the sound and quickly found the source. It was a not very standard courtyard house with white banners hanging at the gate.There is a stage and a plastic shed for people to eat and rest outside the door. There are many villagers helping. Four people are playing on the stage. The funeral music comes from here.

But what attracted the most attention was not these, but a woman standing at the gate of the yard.

The woman looked about 30 years old, part of her long hair was tied in a simple bun, and the rest was loosely let down.

The woman's complexion is white and almost transparent, but her eyebrows and eyes are as thick as half of the smudged pine ink. She is wearing a bright vermilion top and a long black skirt that drags directly to the ground, holding an oiled paper umbrella and staring at the crowd, with a thrill gorgeous.

"Thank you for coming to the funeral." The woman slightly raised the corners of her mouth, and turned sideways to make way for everyone, "Please come in."

Huo Feng was silent for a while, and led everyone in.

After entering the door, there was a huge and heavy black coffin facing him. I don't know what kind of paint was used to dye it. Tang Yu only felt that the black was so deep that it was almost evil, and it could swallow up both light and sound.

The mourning hall was set up in the courtyard, with two hanging curtains hanging on the top, the white cloth was drenched by the rain and hung limply on the ground, and the bottom was already stained with mud.

An oil lamp was lit at the front and back of the black coffin. Although the coffin could shelter the rain, the lights were still swayed by the wind.A sacrificial altar was placed in front of the coffin, with white candles lit, enshrining the same dark god tablet and incense burner, and five dishes of sacrificial dishes.

There is a copper basin for burning paper under the sacrificial altar, and a straw mat next to it. A little boy who seems to be only four or five years old kneels on the straw mat with a heavy filial piety. They didn't respond when they entered the door.

The female NPC who had been in a bad mood since entering the village grabbed the sleeve of the man who was traveling with her in fear as soon as she saw the black coffin.The rest of the players couldn't help whispering when they saw this weird scene.

At this moment, an old man dressed in black and wearing a wide-brimmed black hat walked towards them from the direction of the main house.

The old man was leaning on a cane, and he had a mole the size of a palm on his face, which made him look particularly gloomy.In fact, the old man was not particularly old, probably only around sixty, but his gait was particularly faltering.

He walked in front of the crowd and stood still three or five steps away from the fire front.First, he glanced at the woman in red, then turned to the player, and sternly swept across everyone's faces one by one with his cloudy and shallow pupils, then moved his lips and let out a "shh", and said in a sinister voice: "Mo Speaking, be careful to startle the God of Wealth."

"God of Wealth, what God of Wealth?"

It's actually a corpse.

In order to avoid disturbing the dead, some places seem to have such a tradition, which can be regarded as a kind of taboo, and it is also out of awe of death itself.

Tang Yu thought silently while looking at the yard without a trace.

The woman in red who led them in saw the old man and knelt down slightly, bid farewell to everyone and headed towards the main house.

After the woman left, the villagers who were helping in the yard explained to everyone: "This is Boss Man, the only 'Mr. Hei' in our village. Boss Man helped host this white ceremony. You listen to Boss Man. Just arrange it."

"Well, everyone take one and put it away, and then go to express condolences." Mr. Chuhei, also known as Mr. Yin and Yang, saw that everyone had calmed down to look at him, so the eldest man opened the cloth bag he carried with him, and there was a handful of red cloth strips in it.

Huo Feng thanked him, took it and put it away, then walked straight to the black coffin.

The three people who saw 'Dragon's Blood' picked it up, and the rest of the players also stepped forward to receive the red cloth.The cloth strips are very thin, the material is also very rough, and it still has a slightly powdery feel when you touch it.

Tang Yu and Si Yan folded the cloth strips and put them in the inside pockets of their clothes, waiting in line to worship.At this time, the player in front of them suddenly cursed in a low voice. Tang Yu probed the probe and realized that the red cloth would fade. The player sweated too much and his hands were stained with red paint. It made him directly drop the white cloth in the middle to the ground.

Seeing this, Si Yan couldn't help but scoffed, and muttered unceremoniously: "Fool."

Tang Yu also felt that the man's behavior was a bit inappropriate, and it was probably not for nothing that the man boss asked them to wear red cloth strips.But he threw it all away, and it happened that it was the player's turn to come up to worship, so Tang Yu didn't say anything.

Soon, the male player who threw away the cloth strip hurriedly kowtowed a few times before getting up and walking away, followed by the two NPCs.The gentle man burnt the incense with ease, but he knelt on the futon and stared at the spiritual tablet for a long time, but the woman refused the worship on the grounds that she had a splitting headache as soon as she got close to the coffin. say what.

Next, it was Tang Yu and Si Yan's turn.

Tang Yu handed the little black milk dog in his arms to Si Yan, walked to the black coffin and knelt down.

The huge black coffin was erected very high, and this feeling was particularly obvious after kneeling down, as if the black coffin was looking down on him.

The little boy before was kneeling on the left side of the coffin, but he never raised his head, his eyes fixed on the straw mat and the ground under his knees.The boy looked cute, with big eyes, but his face was a little pale, and his lips were tightly pursed.

Tang Yu picked up the fine incense from the sacrificial altar, lit it on the flame of the white candle, and inserted it into the incense burner in front of the spirit tablet.

Tang Yu noticed that the black spirit tablet was written with a gold pen, but only "Dong Zhou's" was written, and no specific name appeared. This kind of situation usually only occurs in an environment where men are extremely superior to women.

After burning the incense, Tang Yu clasped his hands together, opened them and kowtowed three times on the futon with the palms facing down.

After the end, Boss Man said hoarsely, "The filial son returns the gift", and the lifeless boy on the opposite side suddenly moved, bent down and kowtowed deeply to Tang Yu, his forehead hit the brick floor with a firm sound. Three muffled beeps.

Tang Yu's heart trembled. Being bowed down by such a young child made him feel very uncomfortable.At this moment, from the corner of his eye, he saw the flame of the white candle on the altar suddenly tremble a few times.