The strange story of Huai'an Inn

The flickering candlelight was reflected in Chong Liu's dark pupils, and in an instant, the waiter's expression changed subtly.

Chong Liu lowered his eyes and chuckled knowingly, "If I don't save you, can you find a way to get out?"

Zhu Helan also smiled unfathomably, "Maybe, maybe not. But I am very pleased that you are willing to save me. Although I know that you are afraid that the emperor will mess up the water, and you will not be able to find out where this inn is buried. The deepest secret."

"You've wronged me for saying that. You treat me well, so I'm naturally worried about your situation."

"Or maybe you are worried about your own situation." The shopkeeper said, and glanced at Chong Liu's hand with his eyes.

Chong Liu looked at him dumbfounded, "You doubt me so much, why don't you fire me tomorrow?"

The shopkeeper slowly shook his head, "I have known a few people from Baixiaomen before. No matter whether it is the imperial court or the Jianghu sect, anyone who knows the existence of Baixiaomen is always afraid of you, after all, they can find out Any secret organization in the world has such terrifying power and far-reaching influence that even the Ninth Five-Year Supreme cannot fathom it.

But I know that you have a supreme sect rule, which is that you must not abuse the power of the sect to seek your own interests.Violators may even face the death penalty.The more secrets you hold in your hands, the more cautious you must be, otherwise, once you become a public enemy, no matter how many Bai Xiaosheng in your sect, and how deeply you hide, your fall will only happen overnight. "

After he finished speaking, he stood up, went to the shelf in his back room and brought back a can of tea.He took the boiling water pot and went outside to fill a pot of water and came back, lit the tea stove and boiled the water.

Chong Liu looked at the shopkeeper's slow-moving movements of making tea, feeling a little embarrassed, "Then... am I still the same waiter as before?"

"Of course. You are full of filth, I'm afraid it will be difficult to leave." The shopkeeper said lightly.

I can't walk away from this kind of talk, Xiao Shun said it before, Master Liao also hinted at it, and now even the shopkeeper said the same...

The shopkeeper divided the tea leaves into the tea bowls in front of Chongliu, poured boiling water, and asked, "You have six halls in Baixiaomen, Qinglong, Suzaku, Baihu, Xuanwu, Tengshe and Gouchen, and each hall has a name. Mr. is in charge. Which class are you in?"

Chong Liu secretly sighed, it seems that the shopkeeper doesn't know a little about Bai Xiaomen...

Could it be that someone has probed into the shopkeeper's secrets before?

"Gou Chen."

"Ah, Gou Chen...was originally the most down-to-earth sect among the Baixiao sect, with a wide range of disciples, they usually live in seclusion in the city, doing some humble livelihood, and mostly paying attention to the rumors of events in the folk market. Until your...predecessor, Mr. Gou Chen, appeared. Even if he was placed in Baixiaomen, he was still a maverick. Later, when the Tiangu people invaded, he was also the first person in Baixiaomen to become famous all over the world in 300 years You all know, sir." The shopkeeper said, with an expression of admiration or regret.

I don't know where the shopkeeper was when the Tiangu people invaded.Did the inn already exist at that time?

Chong Liu picked up the teacup with both hands, put it between his nose and sniffed it, and felt that there seemed to be a faint fishy smell.

"Drinking this calming tea can temporarily stabilize your mind, lest you be too much affected by that fan and too inspired." The shopkeeper said, and poured himself a cup.

"Shopkeeper, you know so much about Baixiaomen, do you know a certain gentleman?"

"I did know a Mr. Xuanwu a long time ago, but she has passed away many years ago."

"The shopkeeper... How long have you lived?" Chong Liu couldn't help asking.

The shopkeeper smiled and waved his fingers at him, "Hey, you can't cheat just because I know your identity. You still have to check things like secrets yourself."

Chong Liu quietly rolled his eyes while the shopkeeper was drinking tea.

The boss is always so secretive.

"According to the usual practice, if my identity is exposed, I should leave immediately." Chongliu said slowly, with a somewhat cautious expression, "But if you can pretend to be ignorant, my boss, maybe I can continue to do it."

"Don't worry, it won't do any good for me to speak out about this kind of thing, and I will lose a capable man." The shopkeeper leaned on the cushion behind him, looking at him with a smile.

He looked at Chong Liu as if grass had grown in his heart.

His master once told him that he doesn't have to hide his identity as something unspeakable like other people in Baixiaomen.If the time is right, let some key people think that they already know your identity, but it will make things more convenient.

But Chong Liu felt that being informed of his secret by someone he trusted to a certain extent gave him an unprecedented... sense of satisfaction.

It was as if he had finally been seen.

What the shopkeeper saw was no longer just a simple philistine waiter who liked to inquire about news, but a part of him that was more real, someone who had never been directly stared at.

This feeling of being known is close to intimacy.

Maybe that's why people have such a hard time keeping secrets, and at some point in their lives they're passed on or recorded in some way.

But at the same time, there is also a subtle fear.

............................................................

After drinking the tea given by the shopkeeper, Chong Liu had no dreams all night, and his whole body seemed to sink into the far-reaching and boundless sea in a dream, surrounded by only gentle waves, isolating all the chaotic dreams that might tear his consciousness apart .

In the early hours of the morning, Chong Liu suddenly woke up.

He wasn't sure what woke him up.The air is stagnant and cool, but it looks dry, as if it lacks some fresh smell.

Zhu Yi on the opposite bed was still asleep, his chest rising and falling slowly.

Chong Liu sat up holding the quilt, rubbed his eyes, and decided to go out to the toilet.He hung his feet off the bed, trying to pull on his cloth shoes.But the foot slipped and fell to the ground...

With a groan, his foot stepped on something wet and sticky.

Startled, he looked to the ground.But I found that the ground was covered with yellow lumps like Tai Sui (slime mold) for some reason.From the bottom of these shapeless things that were constantly wriggling like strange yellow insects, large patches of fine yellow mucus, as fine as spider webs or leaf veins, spread out, almost covering the entire ground.And his feet stepped on those yellow slime with traces of green.

When he lifted his foot, the yellow mucus stretched into dense filaments, which were disgusting to watch.

Chong Liu cursed inwardly, neither lifted nor put down that foot.Is there a Tai Sui disaster in the inn?You were fine before going to bed last night, huh?

At this moment, Zhu Yi suddenly started to speak.

Du Shubin, Liu Chenwei, Xuan Xiaoxue...

name...

Zhu Yi hadn't reported his name for a while, but this time it seemed to be different from before.

This time, the name of the person is not followed by the number of days.

Moreover, more than a dozen names have come out, but Zhu Yi still shows no signs of stopping.Unfamiliar names were uttered by him in a cold, emotionless tone, echoing unobtrusively on the walls of the room. The more you listened, the more chilling you were.

When counting several people's names by six, I began to wonder if this time it was not a dream predicting people's death, but some other strange dream. Otherwise, how could there be so many names?

Their Tianliang City is only this big, unless Zhu Yi reported all the dead in the next two years, otherwise this would be too much...

And Zhu Yi didn't stop, the number gradually exceeded a hundred, and names that Chong Liu knew began to appear.

Some brought food to them, some were wine store clerks, some were old men who had chatted with the world and played Xiangxi opera, and there were tea doctors in the theater garden.

When the number of names exceeded two hundred, Chong Liu couldn't sit still.He didn't care about the dirt on his feet, so he pulled up his shoes and came to Zhu Yi, and was about to shake him, when suddenly Zhu Yi opened his lips and said his own name.

"Zhu Yi...... Ten."

ten?

ten days?

The names of more than 200 people before that...

Could it be that after ten days, more than 200 people will die together? Is it a natural disaster? !

Besides, every time Zhu Yi reported the date of death, there was a certain geographical limit, limited to a few nearby neighborhoods, and the coverage was less than one-eighth of Tianliang City.If there are only 200 people in this area, then if this example is extended to the entire Tianliang City...

Chong Liu felt a heavy cold darkness pressing on him like a flying mountain range, making his chest tight and breathing difficult.

What will happen in ten days?

He must tell the shopkeeper about this immediately!

Chong Liu ran to open the door, took a step outside, and stood there dumbfounded.

From the ground to the walls, and even the roof, the yellow crawling slime mold was everywhere, and the cobweb-like yellow slime was overwhelming, hanging between the beams and columns of the eaves.

An ancient, cold fishy smell permeated the morning mist, and through the thin mist, Chong Liu could see a huge... high tower made of countless yellow slime molds.It was so high that it even rushed into the misty sky, and the top could not be seen clearly.

The yellow slime hung on the delicately twisting and deformed tower like a tattered and decayed cloth, spreading over the small city.

This is what Chong Liu saw when he posted a long poem on the bulletin board. At that time... it didn't seem so big?

Where is Cheng Huang?Thinking about it carefully, it seems that Chongliu hasn't heard the voice of Chenghuang Xunjie for a long time.

An intuition told Chong Liu that something happened to the City God.The culprit was the tall tower made of yellow monsters sticking together.

Standing in front of this behemoth, Chong Liu was startled to realize how small and insignificant he was.

What the hell is... what? !

Chong Liu held his breath, as if as long as he did so he would not be discovered.He didn't dare to move, even though it was a cold morning, he was already sweating profusely.

Could it be that... the tragedy ten days later... has something to do with this monster?

The shoulder was suddenly pressed down, and Chong Liu was terrified. He turned his head, but saw the shopkeeper was holding his shoulder, his brows were knit together, and his expression was serious.

"Six..."

"The shopkeeper! Look!" Chongliu hurriedly wanted to point out the huge yellow tower to the shopkeeper, but when he looked over, he saw that the sun had already climbed up the eaves, illuminating the sky. The blue sky was clear without a trace of cloud, let alone fog.

No...it was clearly early in the morning just now? !

Chong Liu turned his neck to look around, but saw Zhu Yi and Xiao Shun were beside him, looking at him worriedly.

Zhu Yi said urgently, "Sixth brother, are you bewitched? When I woke up, I saw you standing in this yard in a daze. No matter what, you didn't respond. It was as if you were dead!"