Strangers

...a parasite that spreads by contact and can cause severe brain infections, we need to get out. "

"Haunted for a while, parasites for a while, is it a ghost movie or a biohazard?" Plaid Shan disapproved.

"I didn't lie to you, I'm really a policeman, and I came here specially to investigate today!"

"You said you were a policeman, so let me show you your ID? Hahaha traffic policeman! It turns out that traffic policemen are not only in charge of traffic, but also supernatural events!"

I saw the idiot take a deep breath, and let go of his gradually clenched fist: "Yes, I am a traffic policeman, and my colleagues from the criminal police team asked me to help investigate. As for the details, we will go out and talk about it."

"It's too late." I interrupted, "He has been targeted, just now."

"What the hell." Plaid Shirt snorted coldly, "Do you guys sing the oboe? One plays the policeman, the other plays the magic stick?"

"You say I'm a magic stick, and I'll be a magic stick once." I smiled and stared at him, and approached him step by step, "There is a thing in this house called the red silkworm, which eats the souls of human beings for a living. The red silkworm It hides in dark and secret places, haunted houses, cemeteries, mortuaries, and all the places that ordinary people are afraid of. Stare at it with red eyes. It will slowly approach and hide in a corpse, a rag doll with its head turned around, an antique clock covered with verdigris, a mottled bloodstain, it will lure you with dust and rust Pay full attention, when your curious finger stretches out, with just a light touch, it will quickly plunge into the meridians of your fingertips, like vines running through every nerve ending of you. At this time, you become its host, Its container. You are terrified, but there is nothing you can do, you can only let it eat up the soul of the sky one bite at a time, and finally lose your soul and go crazy to death."

"You're crazy." He was frightened by my expression, and retreated to the bottom of the wall.

Then a ray of red light flashed.

"Look at your left hand." I smiled.

He lowered his head, and there was a blood spot on his little finger.

"It's a pity, he wanted to save you." I patted his shoulder with my folding fan.

Half a month later, Zhang Daji was closed at the escape room base, and Boss Li specially asked the workers to put up a sign saying "Haunted house is dangerous, no entry".

Is this a cautionary tale, or is it counterproductive?

Stepping on the shoe prints that the workers had just stepped on, a wild cat poked its head out of the grass, its eyes widened curiously, jumped onto the railing, meowed, and jumped into the dark window.

☆, human sacrifice

On the ninth day of April, dusk.

In the deep mountains of Butterfly Village, a small open space is full of men, women and children, but there is no sound.The towering trees shaded the little sunlight left, and one side of the mountain wall was covered with thick vines. In front of the wall stood a stone with names covered in cinnabar.

"It's getting dark, hurry up," Sister Lan ordered.

Several strong men stepped forward with their knives in hand, and chopped off all the overgrown branches, revealing the deep and mysterious Butterfly Cave.

"What time is it?" Mr. Qi asked.

"Seven minutes to six." Sister Lan replied.

Mr. Qi walked to the entrance of the cave and stood still.

There was silence all around, all staring at his every move.He took out a few talisman papers from the skirt of his clothes, burned them, threw them into the water bowl on the ground, read a sentence to it, picked them up, and threw them out.

Then reach out.

"How long will it take?" Sister Lan handed over the torch.

"Not sure." His tone was relaxed, "If I haven't come out in an hour, remember to burn paper money for me."

"Wait! Let me go, I want to go in too!" Wei Yuanyang was tied to a tree five meters away.

Mr. Qi turned his head: "Why are you here, holding me back?"

"It's obvious that you can't even deal with a little bastard, but you have the nerve to talk big!" Wei Yuanyang wanted to kick him, but he couldn't reach him.

"Boss Hu, I would like to trouble you." Mr. Qi said.

"what's up."

"Gag this guy up." He laughed.

Wei Yuanyang opened his mouth to scold, but he heard heavy footsteps coming from the forest, followed by a loud shout.

"Yonglan! No nonsense!"

Xie Yu followed the sound and immediately recognized that the leader was the old man smoking a hookah.

"Grandfather." Sister Lan frowned.

"This is a matter of our village, who will allow you to bring outsiders in!" The old man waved his hand imposingly, "This year's human sacrifice has already been selected, don't worry about it!"

At this time, there was only a rustling, and more than a dozen villagers lit torches, surrounded by a sorceress, walking tremblingly.She wore a scarlet mask covering her whole head, with dark brown mane hanging on the back of her head, her back was bent badly, she was leaning on a shiny walking stick, her head was shaking like a convulsion, and she was whimpering. .

"Fourth Ninth Sacrifice, offering human children, butterflies as a matchmaker, showing signs of heaven, white is good, black is bad..."

"What do you mean?" Wei Yuanyang muttered.

The villagers next to him glanced at him, speaking in strong dialect: "After the sacrifice, a white butterfly will fly out of the cave, which indicates that this year will be auspicious. Otherwise, a black butterfly will fly out, which means an unlucky year and disasters."

While speaking, the sorceress raised her skinny left hand and brought up a child, but it was the little girl who delivered the bedding yesterday.

"Little Jinfeng!" Sister Lan was startled, "Grandpa, Jinfeng's father just died, send her to the cave, how will you let my sister live!"

The old man's voice trembled slightly: "It's our family's merit that Jinfeng sacrificed for the village! It's also the ancestor's rule!"

Sister Lan had a torch in her eyes: "What's the use of rules that can't even protect a child!"

The old man stomped his feet: "The rules of the ancestors have their own reasons!"

Xiao Jinfeng, who had always been ignorant, finally burst into tears, and the crowd on both sides became restless.

"Sacrifice!" The old man roared loudly.

The sorceress listened to the order, and tremblingly dipped in the cinnabar and walked towards the boulder, and wanted to write Xiao Jinfeng's name on it, but Sister Lan led a dozen people to stop her immediately!As soon as the old man gave an order, the villagers behind rushed forward, with the sound of shoving, shouting, and clashes of iron and wood, and the scene fell into chaos!

Xie Yu on this side was careful when he was tied up. Seeing the guards joining in the chaos, he struggled hard twice before throwing off the rope, and stepped forward to release Wei Yuanyang.

"Where is Boss Qi!" Xie Yu looked at the rioting crowd.

"Didn't this kid take the opportunity to run away? He's so disrespectful!" Wei Yuanyang threw the rope, and suddenly heard a childish cry, and several old people were pushing Xiao Jinfeng into the cave!He pushed through the crowd and rushed forward, protecting the girl behind him. An old man rushed over, but he threw him over the shoulder and flew away.

This shot didn't matter, Wei Yuanyang instantly became the target of everyone's criticism, and in the blink of an eye, several hatchets struck him one after another!

In the critical moment, only a gunshot was heard, and the hatchet flew up with a whiz, circled in the air a few times, and plunged into the soil dullly!

The forest fell silent for a moment, and everyone looked over.

It was Sister Lan who shot.

"It's an auspicious year." She pointed.

People raised their heads slowly in the direction of their fingertips. In the light illuminated by countless torches, a white butterfly on the stone wall fluttered its wings and flew lightly into the mountain.

A pair of steps stepped out of the obliquely cut projection of the cave entrance.

Dressed in a mess, with a very bad expression on his face, Mr. Qi smiled at the crowd, staggered two steps and fell down.

It is not appropriate to describe Butterfly Village as "gradually returning to calm". In the past, the tranquility of the village seemed to be dominated by something, and there was an undercurrent of uneasiness, but now, the mysterious atmosphere has disappeared without a trace.

Whether this is good or bad, no one can make a conclusion.

Mr. Qi was sent back to his residence and settled down properly. He slept until the afternoon and woke up in the afternoon. He did not accept the thanks from Sister Lan and the villagers, so he left the village with the two of them.

"Old Qi, it's rare for you to save people in distress. If you play a positive role once, why are you in such a hurry to go back?" Wei Yuanyang walked on the mountain road, pulled out a bamboo branch and dangled blindly.

"I didn't play a positive role." Mr. Qi didn't care.

"By the way, what's in that hole?"

Mr. Qi did not answer.

"You didn't kill it." Xie Yu asked, like a statement.

"of course."

"Then what did you do in the cave?"

"Negotiation." Mr. Qi twirled the folding fan with his fingertips, "I told him not to be so frank in the future, try to be more tactful when eating people, and don't just pick on children, changing the taste occasionally is good for a balanced diet. "

"You still have one like this!" Wei Yuanyang was dumbfounded.

"So one villager still has to be sacrificed every year?" Xie Yu asked.

"Who said they can only accept 'accidental death' like drowning and falling off a cliff." Mr. Qi laughed.

At this time, a white butterfly rushed over, lightly landed on the tip of the fan, and then flew away with wings...

Leaving Butterfly Village smoothly, Wei Yuanyang said that the vacation was not over yet, and turned around to travel to Mount Emei.Both Mr. Qi and Xie Yu had a solitary temper, and the three of them disbanded on the spot.

However, Xie Yu had another reason for not wanting to go the same way with Boss Qi.

On the return plane, he took out the diary as usual, picked out an article and read it——

"No smoking, you'll burn my book."

"Is this how you treat your guests?"

Ding Li sat with his arms around the back of the chair, showing no sign of repentance.I had no choice but to go over and personally pull out the half of the cigarette butt from his fingers, and put it out in the ashtray.

He didn't say anything about this behavior, he just complained: "Huang Meiji is so annoying, I'm almost growing mushrooms."

"I like wet days." I picked up the teacup and looked out the window.

The patter of rain.

"The rain is really annoying." Ding Li repeated.

"You came to me just to express your preference for the weather?" I took a sip of my tea.

Quiet, the door curtain moved.As if he had expected it, he stood up and faced the door.

A man followed him into the house, male, about 60 years old, a little bent, hands tied and feet submissive: "Doctor Ding."

"Uncle Wan, you are welcome to sit here, treat it like your own home." Ding Li greeted.

"I really don't think of myself as an outsider." I whispered.

Just as Wan Bo was about to sit down, he woke up again.

"Sorry, I'm talking about him, please sit down."

Uncle Wan agreed, and slowly sat still.

"Wan Bo, this is the friend I told you about." Ding Li pointed at me, "Tell him all the weird things, one thing can be worth a thousand or eight hundred, say thirty or fifty, aunt's medical expenses Don't worry about it."

"This...really?"

Ding Li nodded with the word "really" written all over his face.

Uncle Wan thought for a while, opened his mouth several times and swallowed it back, and finally said: "Let me just talk about my family's illness."

"My guy was born in the same village as me. When she was young, she was the most handsome girl in the village. She had big eyes, white teeth, and thick black braids. People who went to her house to propose marriage could line up for miles. I don't know why. , she fell in love with me, and the fortune-teller said that whoever followed me would be poor for the rest of her life, and she ignored it. The Master saw that he could not object, so he could only lock her in the room. The temple fair broke open the lock and came out and yelled and lied to them." The uncle grinned a little embarrassedly, "We have done both men and women, and she can't follow anyone except me. The Master sees that it's like this, so I can't control it. , let her roll up a few clothes that night and then married into my house."

"The fortune teller is right." The uncle sighed, "Since she got married, she has been living with me in poverty, and her family doesn't want to see her, which made her suffer a lot. Especially my mother, who was born with my brothers In it, she thought I was incapable, and my mother gave birth to a girl, and she didn't give us any good looks until she died. I think my mother's illness is caused by her."

"How?" I asked.

"Twelve years ago, my mother fell asleep and had to stay at home for three days according to the rules of the village. The next day, my husband was alone in the main room to watch the spirit. After that, she fell seriously ill and almost didn't survive. After that, She gets sick several times a year, and each time is very strange. One time she sat on the bed sewing buttons, and suddenly complained of leg pain. When she went to the village doctor, she broke the bone without falling or touching it. Another time, she ate I fell down with a fever, which scared me. But those things will be fine after a while, and this time..."

"In penetrating cardiac trauma, X-rays show that there is a metal foreign body obliquely piercing into the myocardium, but the body surface is not damaged." Ding Li said.

The uncle wiped the corners of his eyes: "When I found out about this disease, I went home and made a total calculation. I sold what I could sell, and the collected money was spent without even making a sound. She was not in a hurry, and she was very happy. The more I looked at it, the more I felt in my heart." feel bad."

Sighing interrupted the words, Ding Li looked at me.

I counted three bills: "That's all his story is worth."

Ding Li took the 300 yuan into his uncle's hands, and the other party thanked him unexpectedly.

"Actually, there is a way to save your wife from the strange disease."

Uncle was taken aback.

"Take Mingbi tribute to the grave of my first mother, and tell her that the vow my daughter-in-law swore in front of the coffin is hereby cancelled."

"Oath?" Ding Li was puzzled.

"But I don't think it makes any difference to your family." I looked at the drizzle outside the window, "Since kowtowing to heaven and earth three times, that is the common destiny of the two of you."

☆, small vine

Ding Li, Ding Li.Xie Yu murmured, he seemed to have seen this name somewhere.

"Sir, what would you like to drink?"

"The first one." Xie Yu said to himself, realizing that someone was asking him, "Coffee, thank you."

The right hand took the cup and put it on the table, and the left hand turned to the first page at the same time.Sure enough, the data processor's guest was introduced by "Ding Li".

It seems that the relationship between this doctor and Boss Qi is not simple.Xie Yu seemed to have found a breakthrough, and specifically picked out the chapter about Ding Li from the diary.

This one is titled "Little Man":

Haunting is a hospital repertoire, nothing unusual.

"Here, that's the room in front." The narrator, who is also the security guard of the hospital, pointed out.

Inpatient Department, at the end of the corridor, Ward 1019.

I opened the door, and the smell of disinfectant came out.

On the opposite side are the windows, closed tightly, with light blue curtains hanging straight on both sides.The room was not wide. There were two beds on the right, one was empty, and the other was packed with bags. It seemed that they were packing up and preparing to move.A slight noise came from above. I looked up. The source of the sound was the air conditioner on the ceiling.

"It's here." The security guard came to the window and whispered.

I opened the window and looked down. On the tenth floor, the sounds of people and cars mixed together, and the slight noise just now was immediately drowned out.

"Ten days ago, that girl jumped from here and died on the spot." The security guard explained, "The patient in the same room asked to change rooms that night, saying that she dreamed of a ghost pinching her neck. The hospital agreed to the patient's request." , After the situation calmed down, another person was arranged to live in. As a result, just last night, one of them saw a ghost floating on the window sill, and the other had a cardiac arrest for unknown reasons, and the rescue failed."

"Excuse me, who are you?" The patient was standing at the door with a washbasin in his hand, he must be one of the survivors.

"He repairs the air conditioner." I made up a lie and walked out the door.

Then just bumped into someone.

"Why are you here?" Ding Li happily patted me on the shoulder, "It's rare that you're wearing ordinary clothes, so I almost didn't recognize you."

I slapped him away: "It's a long story."

"I still have 5 minutes to get off work, let's have a meal together and talk slowly?"

"I knew it was 5 minutes late."

Ding Li shook the medical records in his hand: "I'll come as soon as I send these up, you wait for me downstairs."

"No, I'll go up with you, I just have something to ask."

In the dressing room of the cardiac surgery department, Ding Li opened the cabinet and hung the white coat inside.

"Your place is very lively recently." I looked around.

He hummed: "Are you worried about me?"

"How is it possible." I laughed, "You know what's going on, so tell me."

"Don't say it, unless you promise to save this ghost after listening."

"You know her?"

"We met once in our lifetime." Ding Li closed the cabinet door, "I happened to be watching downstairs when the girl jumped off the building."

"What kind of a coincidence is this?"

"I also met her once the day before yesterday. I didn't hear a voice or see anything. I can't describe it clearly. I just felt that she was behind me. Then I told her that I knew a very powerful person. He would There is a way to surpass you."

"So that's how it is." I understood, "Let the security guard lure me here, and then pretend to be a chance encounter."

He haha ​​admitted: "But I think it's very strange that you can come. I didn't expect it at first. After all, haunting in hospitals is commonplace."

"Not necessarily."

"How to say?"

"Tell me what you know first."

Ding Li thought for a while: "I asked the nurse downstairs that the girl was suffering from acute leukemia. The family members were afraid that she would be desperate, so they kept hiding her illness, but she overheard it by accident. She knew she couldn't be cured, and wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible. I pushed the door of the ward with a cabinet, sat on the window sill, hesitated for a few minutes, and finally jumped down."

"It's just like that." I said, "There must be something else on the dead person, such as—hatred."

"Maybe." Ding Li smiled helplessly, "When she was sitting on the window sill crying, there were more than one or two shouting and jumping downstairs."

"Did the hospital not come forward to deal with this matter?"

"How to deal with it? Is it possible to arrest them and make booing without breaking the law?"

"I'm talking about ghosts."

"Oh, the leaders of the hospital have secretly asked someone to save them, and even invited alchemists to exorcise the ghosts, but it didn't work."

Outside the window the night began to fall.

"Now it's your turn." Ding Li said.

I said knowingly: "There is such a story in Zhiguaizhai's book. It tells the story of a woman who was insulted by an adulterer while walking at night in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. When she called for help, she passed by three or four people who completely ignored her. The next day, the woman hanged herself from the beam, and for some reason, one soul turned into two ghosts, one ghost named Xuantiao, crying around the beam, and the other ghost named Cangtooth Man, doing evil and harming people everywhere. The two ghosts resent each other fiercely, one ebbs and another grows, and monks and Taoists cannot be subdued."

Ding Li hurriedly asked the last one.

"Finally, I invited a quack sorcerer who didn't know the sect, and cast a spell, causing a thunderbolt to turn into two strands and strike down at the same time, and the resentful ghosts were wiped out."

After I finished speaking, I looked at Ding Li victoriously: "I know how to recite that curse, how about introducing me to your leader and rewarding me seven or three for everything?"

He didn't speak.

The small locker room was too quiet, and the sky was getting dark.

I glanced unconsciously out of the corner of my eye, and a strange cold blue shadow gradually radiated from the corner of the wall four feet away.

If "Xuanti" only lingers on the windowsill, then this one——!

Immediately, I took half a step back and threw a talisman. I saw that ghostly figure turning into white smoke, twisting for a while and then slowly gathering, as if it was about to condense back into a human form.

"If you don't want to die, go away!" I shouted to Ding Li who was in a daze.

It turns out he's better at escaping than I am.

"What should we do now." He fled downstairs in one breath, holding on to the telephone pole to calm his breath.

I straightened my collar: "I'm too lazy to come to this ghost place again, don't ask me what you should do."

"I don't want to be strangled to death." His tone was very beating.

"Then don't mind your own business."

Ding Li thought of something and pointed upward: "Is the other one still on the window sill?"

I looked up and glanced: "Don't worry, just sit there properly."

Ding Li scratched the back of his head: "Actually, I've been thinking just now, it's better for her to be so scary every day, or it's better for her to be struck to death by lightning."

"How would I know."

"What do you think is the meaning of the existence of ghosts? How can you have dignity as a ghost? Do you feel happy when you scare people? The more people who are afraid of it, the higher your status. When you see other ghosts killing people, you will feel happy." Think it's amazing?"

"Don't judge ghosts with the values ​​​​like hooligans."

"Or she did those things unconsciously, and she couldn't control it?"

"I said, don't use your human thoughts to speculate on other things. You can only accept its existence, and then choose how to coexist, or fight to the death."

"But I still think mutual understanding is more important."

I crossed my arms. "Can you understand what a telephone pole is thinking?"

"No."

"You are as different from a ghost as you are from a telephone pole."

"But ghosts are changed by people, so they should be able to communicate a little bit."

"Then go back and communicate with her, and walk slowly."

"No." Ding Li blinked, "I don't want to be strangled to death."

"Then don't mind your own business!"

He pointed at my cuff: "That talisman looks very powerful, give me one."

"A piece of three hundred, buy two get one free."

"It's expensive."

"Don't pull it down."

It was night, and when I returned to Zhiguai Zhai, I dug out the book that recorded one soul and two ghosts.

... The two ghosts complained fiercely, one ebbed and the other ebbed and flowed, and neither the monks nor the Daoists could subdue them.So far, no results.

Sure enough, there is no way.I stuffed the scroll back, but I knew that Ding Li never wanted to strike her to death with lightning, so I made up a nonsense ending, and it was fun to see his embarrassed expression.

Shaking the fan, I was leaning on the bed, about to fall asleep, when the phone rang.

"What, you followed me to my house." Even though he lowered his voice, it was Ding Li.

I said vaguely: "I'm sleeping, don't disturb me."

"what should I do."

"Go to bed early, good night." I hooked up the receiver.

Sooner or later his meddlesomeness was killing him, it made no difference, and it had nothing to do with me.

—if he doesn't bring things up to me.

"What time do you think it is?" As soon as I opened the door, I saw a lot of trouble.

"Two thirty." Ding Li boasted boldly.

Glancing behind him, I put a talisman on the threshold, let him in, and left the ghost outside scratching the door.

"It's strange." Ding Li turned his head and seemed to be talking to the door panel, "She seems to have been wanting to come over, but she can't get close."

"Are you wearing something to ward off evil spirits?" I was half asleep and half awake.

"It's this." He picked up the red string around his neck and brought out a bead.

"what is that."

"Peach wood beads, you gave them to me when I was in the fifth grade of elementary school. What a memory."

"I can't remember these boring things, this is your bedding." Throwing a quilt on the sofa, I turned and entered the back room, and locked the door behind me.

The next morning.

The cries from the market downstairs woke me up on time, and when I opened the door, Ding Li had disappeared.After clearing out the ashtray, I went to the kitchen to find something to eat, and found a note stuck in the door of the refrigerator.

"There seems to be another accident in the hospital. I'll go back and have a look."

Tell me why.I tore off the note, crumpled it up and threw it in the trash.

and many more.

If the one on the window sill is Xuan Ti, and the one following Ding Li is Cang Chi Man, how could there be another accident in the hospital?

interesting.I laughed, grabbed my coat and went out.

The deceased was male and lived in the ward on the eleventh floor.At four o'clock in the morning, the roommate was awakened by the cry of "there is a ghost". He turned on the light and checked, and saw him lying limp on the bed clutching his neck. The doctor confirmed that he died of cardiac arrest of unknown cause.

Ding Li's height stood out in the crowd, and before I got close, I could smell a small chill around him.

"It seems to have a deep obsession with you." I smiled, "Did you blame others for forgetting?"

"No way." Ding Li looked innocent, "You mean she's still following me?"

"It could be left or right, or the face in front of you is close to the tip of your nose." I rambled.

"Forget it, she didn't do anything to me anyway, just follow her, and I can't see her, so just pretend she doesn't exist." He pointed to the ward, "This is the problem now, the one who killed me last night Who the hell is it, there should be other ghosts."

"I don't know, but I have a guess."

"what."

"Are you on the night shift tonight?"

"You guessed it right."

I ignored his sneer: "I'll go back and get ready. I'll come here to see you tonight."

It is night, and the hour and minute hands form an acute angle before twelve o'clock.

Ward 1019 was pitch black, and on the window sill, the shoulders of light blue were undulating.

I lit three candles, arranged them in a triangle on the ground, and lit a stick of ten-mile incense among them. After a while, the door opened without any wind.

"Okay." I said.

"What's the matter?" Ding Li asked.

"I tied Cangzhiman into the formation, but it can only last for 10 minutes." I stretched out my hand, "Pick off the mahogany bead around your neck."

He handed it to me without asking why, and the light blue shadow that had been hesitating behind him finally floated forward.

"Not two, but three." I pointed to him one by one, "The one on the window sill to your right is Xuan Tiao, and the one bound to me is the harmful Cangtooth Man. As for the one who has been following you... that girl what is it call?"

"I don't know her full name, I heard the nurse called her Xiaoman."

"Okay, now Xiaoman is standing in front of you, she has something to say to you."

"What?"

"I don't know."

"Even you can't hear?"

"The so-called wandering souls can rest in peace when they fulfill their wishes, desperate wandering souls want to be redeemed, and hateful wandering souls will harm people. I can't hear what Xiaoman is saying. Her existence is much weaker than those two, but even so , this is the last reason why she can't rest in peace every night."

Xiao Man's lips slowly opened and closed, forming a silent film on the timeline.

"I know what she wants to say." Ding Li sighed, "It's not worth it."

"What?" I asked.

"On the day she committed suicide, I passed by downstairs, and there were two troublemakers shouting and jumping, so I beat them up." Facing the air, Ding Li smiled, "It's a trivial matter, no thanks."

Return home to light the lamp, melt the ink and moisten the pen, and write down neatly on a new page:

...After the woman committed suicide, for some reason, her soul turned into three ghosts.One ghost is named Xuantiao, who lives on a high platform and weeps endlessly;Spinning and complaining, the blue teeth are ferocious, and the small vines are weak and harmless, one ebbs and another grows.Waiting for Du Hua Xuan to subdue the Cangtooth Barbarian, the benefactor accepts and thank you.rest in peace.

☆, the seventh person

In Zhiguai Zhai, Boss Qi was nestling in a wicker chair with a cup of tureen tea, and the hall was full of books returned by Sister Lan's messenger.

"Are you free to do anything?" Mr. Qi flipped the tea leaves.

"Your books were originally arranged in a disorganized manner. Every time you look for information, you waste unnecessary time." Xie Yu arranged them one by one in chronological order and put them back on the bookshelf neatly.

Mr. Qi took a sip of tea and didn't bother to care about him, only the sound of rice paper being rubbed in the hall, and occasionally two or three sparrows chirped on the telephone pole outside the window.

"Return this to you." Xie Yu handed over the notebook with a brown paper cover.

"Let it go." Mr. Qi pointed casually.

"I don't think this is the writing method of the diary." Xie Yu expressed doubts, "The perspective of the No.1 pronoun is the attitude of the third person. Even if all the words 'I' are replaced by 'he', it is also valid."

"Really?" Mr. Qi smiled.

Seeing that he didn't intend to answer, Xie Yu continued to sort out the collection of books: "What's your full name?"

"Qi Harmony, Harmonious Harmony."

"pseudonym."

"After so many years, the fake ones have become real." Qi Xie shook open the folding fan, "Let's ask if you have anything else to save trouble in the future."

"If you ask, you may not say it, and if you say it, it may not be true."

"Right."

Xie Yu took out a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it: "Look at this."

Qi Xie took it: "What?"

"The recently popular board game is called 'The Seventh Man'. This is the game rule I cut from the webpage."

Seemingly interested, Qi Xie straightened the A4 paper.

"What do you think?" Xie Yu asked after 3 minutes.

"It was fun."

"You know that's not what I'm asking about."

"I don't know which one you are asking."

"Do you know Qingye Tasha?"

Mr Qi shook his head.

"A martial arts writer, the royalties are 300 million. I don't know her well. Last week, I accidentally received an email from her asking for help, saying that her cousin and classmates played this board game, and an abnormality occurred two days later. The specific manifestation is one, killing Tendencies, such as pushing people down the stairs unexpectedly, and second, sleepwalking, and even opening the refrigerator to eat raw meat in a trance. Except for these two points, everything is normal when awake, and no problem can be found when taken to the hospital for examination."

Qi Xie thought for a few seconds: "She doesn't know you well, why did she ask you?"

"I write about this kind of stuff a lot."

"Didn't you write detectives?"

"Story setting and genre don't matter, and the point of detective fiction is logic, not possibility."

Qi Xie laughed: "You just wanted to talk about science."

"You heard it wrong." Xie Yu didn't change his face, "Based on professional ethics, supernatural phenomena never appear in my books, all are man-made events."

"Whatever." Qi Xie shook the paper in his hand, "So you're here to introduce business?"

"No, it's just a survey out of personal interest." Xie Yu turned the paper to the other side, and it was also a screenshot of a webpage. The post owner launched a city-wide event, inviting netizens to play "The Seventh Man" in an old hotel that was in urgent need of demolition. The time is today.

"I signed up." Xie Yu said, "The game requires six people, and we have already gathered them all. One of them has a temporary emergency, so we need a substitute. Since you said 'very fun' just now, why don't you go?"

"It turns out that you are digging a hole here and waiting for me." Qi Xie smiled, "It doesn't matter, just treat it as a voluntary labor. Anyway, the favors of Butterfly Village have to be paid back to you. It is more refreshing not to owe each other."

The game location is an old hotel in the city center, named Changjiang Hotel, which was built in the 50s and is a landmark building in the old business district of the small town.There are six floors up and down, Soviet style, the outer wall is paved with camel-colored bricks, with strips of blue glass windows, full of aesthetic taste in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China.The restaurant was originally state-run, but after the restructuring, it was contracted several times and gradually declined. It was completely abandoned two years ago.Recently, it was purchased by a real estate company, and it is going to rebuild a commercial complex, and it will be flattened when the financing is in place.

In the deserted backyard, Xie Yu stopped the car, and the muffled sound of closing the door elicited two barks of dogs, which came from nowhere.According to the hint in the post, he found a side door. The seals on both sides of the door panel were drooping, yellow and brittle, and when pushed lightly, it was like a dead leaf falling to the ground.

Through the dilapidated kitchen to the foyer, the wide terrazzo staircase is dusty.

"They all call each other by their online names, and I don't want to use my real name." Xie Yu reminded him, "Now my name is Cheng Yu, don't make a mistake."

"Wrong call?" Qi Xie asked back with a smile, "When did I call your name?"

"That's the best, do you want to change your name?"

"No, it's a fake."

The two went upstairs at a slow speed, and soon caught up with a figure: a yellow pleated skirt, a small satchel, a light green sweater over a white shirt, double ponytails, and a round face.

"Hello." The girl smiled sweetly, "I am Eleven Night, you can just call me Eleven."

"Hello, I'm Cheng Yu." Xie Yu nodded and took the opportunity to inquire, "Do you often play this game?"

"No." Eleven Night waved his hand, "It's my first time playing today, and I'm worried that if I don't play well, it will hinder my teammates."

The speaking room had already reached the sixth floor, and the three of them turned into the corridor, passed ten guest rooms and came to the end, with a double door open.

"Hi everyone!" Eleven night leaned halfway in.

The room was very dark, and the searchlight on the table was the only source of light, dimly illuminating the two people next to them.

Male, slightly chubby, slim, with a hand-painted white T-shirt, with dimples when he smiles.

Female, long curly hair, retro makeup, black dress can't be seen clearly in the room, only the long metal necklace on the chest is very conspicuous.

"Good evening." The man waved his hand, "I'm Mr. E, the landlord, and she's Di Lila."

The woman smiled, with a charming look in her eyes.

Mr. E picked up the bag from under his feet, took out a few flashlights and distributed them to everyone: "This room was originally a large conference room in a hotel. Later, the facade was remodeled, and the windows were sealed. This is just right for playing. No, the meeting room The table hasn’t been moved yet, so the decoration is saved, and there is atmosphere, and it’s free, which is great, although it’s a bit gray.”

"Sorry, sorry, I'm late!" A person hurried in at the door.

A few flashlights showed him that he was thin, with stubble, and a baggy vest and shorts: "Hi everyone, I'm Ma Hezi."

Mr. E stretched out his finger and pointed six times: "Now we have counted all the people, exactly six, let's stand up and get to know each other again. Then I am the host, so I will stand here." Mr. E walked to the one with the shorter conference table On one side, pointing counterclockwise: "Who will come next? Position A."

"Me." Xie Yu was the closest.

Qi Xie followed, position B.

"Then I'm in C!" Eleven Night jumped over.

"I'll just stand at E." Di Lila