Forces of Temptation

Nan Zhou returned to the church, sat with his teammates, and sorted out the clues accumulated throughout the day.

Now, after experiencing countless lives and deaths, along the way, Nan Zhou, a non-human being, has gained the trust of the team members.

Asking him to do the most critical thing of receiving supplies alone is enough to prove this point.

Jiang Fang put a simple hand-drawn map of the terrain in the middle: "Guanyu and I searched along the suspension bridge. The church is surrounded by cliffs."

This is a small world independently developed, not disturbed by the world, and dedicated to the Duke of Shelley.

According to previous entry and exit logs, only people from the castle would come here to pray.

Song Haining asked: "Then the way down the mountain is over the suspension bridge?"

Nan Zhou: "I asked Zhao Lirui to look for it. But the daily work in the castle is busy, and the Duke is seriously ill and cannot do without people. If they want to find their way, they may have to wait until everyone has rested before they can come out."

"It's evening." Hua Sisi, the most worrying person in the team, sighed, "Then are they dangerous? Don't we just have to work hard to survive until the seventh day?"

In his opinion, nighttime action is purely an act of death in any horror movie.

Jiang Fang reminded him lightly: "We want to 'live' until the seventh day."

The nature of the copy is "adventure puzzle solving".

For this, it is necessary to take some extra risks.

Only by collecting more clues can he ensure that he will not die inexplicably in a trap that he has never been aware of.

Nan Zhou lowered his eyes, hiding his worries about the six people on the other side very well.

He said calmly: "They will have a sense of proportion."

Ban Hang, a male with stud earrings, sat cross-legged on the ground, folded his arms and looked at the two letters transcribed from memory.

He asked: "What are 'iguana's teeth'?"

"Dinosaur fossils." The oldest among them, 29-year-old Guan Junliang still has some miscellaneous knowledge, "I remember that when the dinosaur fossils were first discovered, they were called this."

Banhang played with his faded earrings, muttering: "It's quite romantic."

In this day and age, with the title of duke, at a young age, when you are about to die, you don’t want to eat and have fun in your last days, or focus on curing your illness, but want to see dinosaur teeth, which is quite elegant.

On the first day, nothing is clear.

Even if they have endless questions, they can only take care of them temporarily.

On the first night, Hua Sisi wanted to visit the church late at night, but accidentally ran into Jiang Fang and Nan Zhou talking in front of the stained glass on the roof. Just as he was about to say hello, Jiang Fang scolded him, "Get out!" .

Hua Sisi was scolded and turned back on the spot, obediently going downstairs.

After he sat down on the prayer bench, he put his arms on the back of the wooden chair, looked up at the delicate paintings on the circular dome, and sighed.

Alas, the young couple quarreled, and it hurt the fish in the pond.

His mother is religious, but the definition of "religion" is very broad, with a strong sense of pragmatism.

His father was plagued by chronic diseases all the year round. Besides taking care of him wholeheartedly, his mother often took the young Xiaohua to temples, Taoist temples, and churches to pray to gods from all over the world to make his father recover from his illness.

When he was young, Hua Sisi didn't understand, and was infected by his mother's piety when she made a wish, so he followed suit, trying to replicate that piety.

When he grew up, he understood the significance of this move, and he also knew from the results that even a doctor could not cure his father, let alone a god.

But he knew that his mother needed a place to place her broken heart.

So, he still followed his mother to various places to make a wish that he knew was impossible to realize.

At this moment, facing the statue, he clasped his palms together habitually and made a wish.

I hope the boss and Brother Nan will stop arguing and have a good time in the dungeon.

According to his movie-watching experience, in all kinds of stories, this kind of unreasonable and strange task always has its end.

There will always be a day when they can go home.

……I hope so.

May they be as lucky as the people in the story.

After praying, Hua Sisi belatedly remembered, it's over.

Christianity does not protect homosexuality.

He made a wish in various places, and accidentally made a split.

He hurriedly put his palms together to apologize, hoping that Lord Jesus would pretend not to hear the nonsense he just said, and he didn't pay attention just now, so he will take it back immediately.

After he put down his hands and opened his eyes, he was shocked to find that under the statue of the crucifixion of Jesus, stood the skeleton-like Pastor Keith.

In the dim candlelight, the eyes of Pastor Keith, who was as thin as a skeleton, were surrounded by darkness, except for a pair of eyes, which were as bright as two will-o'-the-wisps.

He looks almost merged with the crucifixion of Jesus.

Reverend Keith faced him and opened his mouth.

His whole body was wrapped in darkness, except for a mouthful of neat and white teeth.

"Are you alone?" he asked.

Hua Sisi let out an "ah".

Pastor Keith: "You, come here. I have something to see you."

Hua Sisi let out another "ah" before he realized it. He frantically tried to stand up, but with his knees bent, he slammed the chair back a lot, making an ear-piercing noise.

He is trying to call for help.

Song Haining, who was studying the paintings in the small corridor next door, heard the movement in the main hall, and hurried over: "Why...?"

Seeing Pastor Keith, she stopped for a moment.

Hua Sisi didn't expect that someone was nearby, and immediately applied for foreign aid as if seeing a life-saving straw.

He said respectfully: "Mr. Pastor, you explain to me. I'm afraid that I can't handle it alone. How about the two of us going together?"

Pastor Keith nodded irresolutely, then turned his back, and his whole body merged into the shadows, walking towards his office.

Hua Sisi and Song Haining looked at each other and followed.

After escaping from the danger, Hua Sisi was still in shock, and went to find Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang who had just fallen asleep overnight, and told them what happened to him.

Nan Zhou asked: "What did he ask you to do?"

Hua Sisi patted his chest, and said: "He said that the flowers he planted bloomed, and asked me to get up early tomorrow and pick a dozen of them, and then dry them and make them into flower bags, and give them to Mr. Duke in a few days."

Song Haining was abducted by him, she laughed at him and said, "It's just such a small matter, let's see how scared you are."

Hua Sisi waved his hands again and again, affirming: "If I go alone, I might not be able to come back tonight!"

Song Haining patted his face: "You bah bah bah!"

Jiang Fang repeated softly: "Flower bag?"

Nan Zhou looked at him: "What's wrong?"

In order to be cautious, Jiang Fang didn't say too much: "They are a little too close."

Not only is Pastor Keith's heart in making flower bags for him, but also the intentional or unintentional coquettish tone in the Duke's letter.

But Nan Zhou didn't seem to question this point: "Didn't you tell us from the beginning that they are friends?"

Jiang Fang shrugged.

Nanzhou doesn't understand complex interpersonal relationships, so it's understandable.

He made a note of this for the time being, and turned to Hua Song and the two, "Is there anything special in the office?"

According to Song Haining, they investigated almost all the rooms in the church that could be investigated, and only a few rooms with dusty locks could not be opened.

Then there is the pastor's personal bedroom, which also serves as his office.

He must be locked when he comes in and out, obviously because he doesn't want others to peek into his private affairs.

The only access to the office is the door.

Even the place where there should have been a window was bricked up.

I don't know how the pastor works and sleeps in this coffin-like room.

"No." Hua Sisi replied, "We came out within a minute of going in. From the outside, there is nothing wrong with the furnishings inside, and the rest...we didn't have time to see anything."

Having said that, the four of them looked at each other in silence.

It takes 1 minute to do such a small thing as making a flower bag.

It really wasn't worth calling someone into that closed office.

... Hua Sisi may have really escaped death just now.

Even Hua Sisi didn't know what kind of taboo he violated to be targeted by Keith.

He thought about it, and his heart trembled slightly.

Could it be that his inner wish was heard by Keith?

Could Keith be God himself?

Or did Keith feel he had blasphemed the gods he believed in?

On the other side, Nan Zhou noticed Hua Sisi's inexplicably tense expression, thought he was nervous, couldn't help but sighed slightly, and said solemnly: "It would be great if I could pick the lock."

Jiang Fang laughed.

His ability to change the subject and try to put people at ease is still poor.

But at this time they had just argued, Jiang Fang's smile was only half opened, and he took it back.

He said softly but politely: "You can learn slowly in the future."

Song Haining noticed that there was a difference in the atmosphere between the two of them, they were not as naturally intimate as usual, so she couldn't help but meet Hua Sisi's eyes.

Hua Sisi gestured at her, telling her not to ask.

On the first day, only this seemingly insignificant disturbance arose.

All night.

In the afternoon of the second day, it was Zhao Lirui who came to the suspension bridge to hand over.

The two checked the items in their hands.

Today, what the pastor sent was a bottle of white wine, two pieces of bread, and a letter.

The letter still dryly comforted him, asking him to endure the pain, and he was trying to figure out a way.

The duke sent another origami animal, with the message, he drank the wine he sent, took sleeping pills, slept well last night, his headache was better, what he ate today, and how far he walked.

It's all parents' short stories, daily chores.

And, he is looking forward to seeing "Iguana's Teeth" with Mr. Pastor after he recovers from his illness.

Two days, four letters, enough information.

With the two of them, all the topics were focused on the "Duke's illness".

The duke wanted to be well, and the priest was bent on curing him.

Hua Sisi, who had watched the movie thoroughly, was the first to ask a question based on common sense: "Keith, he is not going to summon a demon, is he?"

There are similar plots in many religious movies.

The pastor either had an unfortunate childhood, or had a wish that was eager to fulfill, but God and angels did not answer his prayers. He simply dedicated himself to the devil and let the devil do things for him.

His friend Duke Shelley is fatally ill, and Reverend Keith may be willing to give everything for him, whether it is out of friendship or love.

The plot development in front of me fits perfectly with the movie.

And in this kind of movie, there will always be some unlucky ones who are used as sacrifices for the devil.

Maybe they are the unlucky ones.

Today, they also found evidence of this.

Of course, the clues were not found in the locked room, but in their "luggage" as copy characters.

Judging from the local postmarks found in the church, although they recruited churches in nearby towns, they all have a common feature:

They are not locals, but come here from various distant villages to work here.

This also means that even if they disappear in this alien land surrounded by cliffs, no relatives will be able to find out in time.

This simply put the word "conspiracy" written on the face.

The plot advanced here, and the other four breathed a sigh of relief.

According to their experience, since they already know the purpose of the boss, they just need to act together, not to die, not to get along with the boss alone, and properly use the props to defend themselves, and they will be fine until the seventh day.

Among their luggage, there are professional exorcism crosses.

Jiang Fang was noncommittal about this.

He asked Nan Zhou: "Have you found the way down the mountain?"

"There is a downhill road over the castle." Nanzhou replied, "They walked halfway up the mountain and saw the town from a distance, but they didn't try it, because they were afraid of going out of the dungeon range and breaking some taboos."

After discussing this, everyone has relaxed a lot.

This should be a simple copy.

However, there is still a question on everyone's mind.

Why "no crossing the bridge"?

This request was placed there brightly, like a temptation, and like a sharp sword hanging over their heads.

Should they heed the request?

Or, that voice is actually a kind of conspiracy?