sunk in yesterday

The fire was like the sun, and the originally dark sky was bright yellow.

The fire opened its claws unscrupulously, covering the entire mountain forest ferociously, and the cries and shouts were distorted in the bursts of black smoke. They did not have developed fire extinguishing equipment, and they could only rely on manpower to draw water one after another to extinguish the fire. Now Every household was in disarray. Some people desperately went back to their houses to save bank notes, some went back to rescue children who were locked up at home, and some old people fell on the road and couldn’t get up but there was no one to help them for a long time. The feeling of terror and tension Being infinitely magnified, despair descended as quickly as an embankment.

When Xia Zhuo and the others went to the edge of the cliff, what they saw was such a picture of hell on earth.

"How could it be...so fast?" The incident happened suddenly, and Shen Wei stared down in a daze. The surrounding temperature continued to rise, which made people's thinking a little dull.He stared blankly at the flames engulfing the forest for a while, then suddenly turned his head in panic: "Where did Liu Qianyu and the others go? When we entered the temple, they were still hiding behind the bushes. Where can they go now?!"

"Where are you going?" Seeing that he turned around and was about to run into the sea of ​​flames not far away, Kong Man quickly grabbed his wrist.

Shen Wei shook off him, "Where else can I go? Of course I'm going to find them!"

"Calm down first." Kong Man stopped in front of him, "Now you are only committing suicide when you go back. They are not stupid, and they must know to find a safe place to hide. The important thing is that the way we came was blocked by fire. Only the cliff, you should worry about yourself!"

"He's right." Xia Zhuo stood on the edge of the cliff with her arms folded. "They all know that they should run to the river if they are smart. Now the four of us are the most problematic."

Guan Yuzhou frowned, but said nothing.

Xia Zhuo also knew that running to the river was definitely not the smartest way.The river was fast-moving, and crossing the river at night was extremely dangerous. The fire was clearly going to destroy the entire village together.Those villagers will definitely think of going to places with a lot of water, but when they really wait, they will realize that there is little hope of surviving. Liu Qian said that a few outsiders will be pushed to the forefront immediately, and the villagers will not care about things To tell the truth, it is estimated that they have already had a nervous breakdown and took them under the knife.

So you must not go to the river, he just said that to calm Shen Wei.

Shen Wei paused, as if thinking about what Xia Zhuo said.Fortunately, his mind is confused now, he didn't think deeply, and realized that what he said made sense, so he stopped yelling to go back, and just thought dully: "But what if they come back to find me..."

The oxygen gradually thinned out, and the thick smoke choked people out of breath.They could only retreat again and again, thinking of using some props to protect themselves.

There are props, but the redemption requires a little more points, no matter how bad it is, there is still a 99-point substitute card that can be used, but Xia Zhuo didn't move, he always felt that the fire was not an accident.Do unexpected things happen in the dream?He doesn't think so.This fire is clearly part of the plot, and it won't really push the participants to the point of desperation. There must be something they don't know...

The fire was ignited from the direction of the entrance of the village. If it was not intentional arson, it would be unjustifiable.The arsonist is very familiar with the structure of the village, and knows that no one can escape if this road is cut off. Is it revenge for the people who were "killed" a few years ago...

Who exactly has the problem?

The old lady basking in the sun at the entrance of the village, the woman with red embroidered shoes, or...

Xia Zhuo looked at the lantern with the word "Dian".

"Cough, cough, cough..."

The ground under his feet became hot, and his clothes soaked in water were about to dry out.Xia Zhuo leaned back, Guan Yuzhou held his waist, unscrewed the mineral water to cool him down as usual, as if waiting for something, only whispered in his ear: "Be patient for a while."

Suddenly, a vague figure appeared in the sea of ​​flames.

Kong Man raised his hand and pointed: "That is..."

It was Liu Zijin who disappeared after entering the village!

Liu Zijin walked in the fire, the flames couldn't do him any harm, but the things he held in his arms had already been carbonized.

Xia Zhuo distinguished carefully, and finally recognized that it was a person who was completely scorched.

Who is he holding?

Holding the unrecognizable corpse, Liu Zijin walked slowly from the sea of ​​flames.He stood on the edge of a cliff not far away, looking at this absurd scene.The flames were still burning the person in his arms, but he didn't stretch out his hand to extinguish it, maybe it was because he was powerless, so he just jumped with the corpse in his arms——

As they disappeared on the cliff, Xia Zhuo's eyes gradually blurred, and he couldn't hear anything in his ears.

A large expanse of whiteness occupied his field of vision, and he could only hear his heavy panting, feeling his hot body become comfortable under the sudden drop in temperature.

hum-

Boom, boom.

Heart beating so fast it's about to explode.

Consciousness gradually returned, and the afterglow of the setting sun shone on her body, lengthening everyone's shadows.

When they woke up fully, they were standing at the entrance of the village.

"It's not us, it's not..." Liu Qianyu was still trembling, she kept crouching down with her head in her arms, tears all over her face.

Shen Wei wanted to rush up to see her situation, but his knees were limp and he knelt on the ground, he couldn't say anything, his throat was so dry and sore from the smoke.

The seven people who were separated got together again, and they didn't know what was going on for a while, but under a tree not far away, an old lady was sitting and basking in the sun.

The smoke from the cooking above the village is curling up, and the red silk stretches up the mountain.

"Wooooow... Butterfly, my butterfly..."

With the crisp sound of the silver lock, a girl's figure appeared at the entrance of the village.

Everything seemed to be back to two days ago, except that the sun was about to set overhead and turned orange.

"Wan'er?" Zhao Xiaomeng murmured blankly: "We... are back?"

Xia Zhuo approached her: "How are you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, um..." Zhao Xiaomeng nodded indiscriminately, and wiped the tears on her chin with her hand, "We wanted to go in and find you, but the fire was too big. As a result, we were delayed for less than a minute. The villagers ran into each other. The couple who took us in took the lead, and they said that we would repay their kindness by setting fire to their village."

Liu Qianyu was greatly wronged, and burst into tears as soon as she opened her mouth: "I said it, and I said it was not us, but they just didn't believe it. I said that it would be of no benefit for us to burn the village, and we were also trapped. Well, they just don’t believe it, saying that there are only a few of us outsiders in the whole village, and we must have set the fire..."

Seeing her emotional collapse, Meng Tianhua wanted to take out paper from his pocket, but his face was pale, his wrists were shaking, and he couldn't take it out after a long time.

"It's fine." Kong Man patted him on the shoulder, "Shen Wei is very worried about you."

Liu Qianyu pursed her mouth, and suddenly rushed over to hug Shen Wei, crying like a tearful person.

"I really have, I want to go back to find you, but, but I can't get in, I was wondering if you might be trapped in the temple, but I have no way, I have no way at all, Sister Zhao and I discussed going to the river to find someone to come and rescue you, but they all, all beat us, woo woo..."

"Wan'er doesn't cry, isn't it just a paper kite? Go back and daddy will make you a new one." Wan'er's father's voice came from the entrance of the village. He picked up the little girl and walked in while coaxing her.

Shen Wei was flustered for a while, and finally put his hand on her back, and patted it clumsily, "How old are you, why are you crying worse than that little girl..."

Liu Qianyu wiped all her snot and tears on his shoulders, "If you want to take care of it, I'll be happy..."

Xia Zhuo looked at the side with some headaches, they had never really formed a team with anyone, and they didn't know what to do when they encountered the current situation.Although the original intention was not to form a team, but it became this situation unconsciously.

"What exactly does the dream want us to do?" Kong Man was the first to ask.

Zhao Xiaomeng also noticed the change of the setting sun, "There should be a limit to the number of times... What will happen if it turns dark red?"

"I'm going to die." Xia Zhuo continued.

"Then, what are we going to do? Did something happen when you went to the temple?" After Liu Qianyu calmed down, she stretched out her hand and pushed Shen Wei away, not looking at him as if she was embarrassed.

Xia Zhuo talked about the time when Uncle Wang asked God, and mentioned the last scene of Liu Zijin jumping off the cliff with someone in his arms.

"Who is he holding?" Zhao Xiaomeng asked.

"I don't know." Shaking his head, Xia Zhuo quickly frowned, "It seems that we need to find out what happened to this village in the past, that centipede face mentioned that they also killed a person a few years ago, maybe this person and Liu Zijin related."

Guan Yuzhou reminded: "Didn't he mention having a wife?"

"Yes, if his family is in Tuping Village, shouldn't his wife be here too?" Zhao Xiaomeng was puzzled after finishing speaking, "He said at the time that his wife had the same surname as him, but there is no one with the surname Liu in the village. His wife would Won't he also die in the past few years?"

Liu Qianyu said: "If he died, who was he hugging? I think it should be his wife."

"Could it be their child?"

"That's right...it's also possible."

Shen Wei got up from the ground: "It turns out that what I kicked out was a head?! I thought it was a ball!" He was not sure: "It can't be because I kicked it out of the temple, so it was kicked. Did it start the fire that followed?"

Kong Man thought to himself, you didn't scare yourself by kicking the head, but you scared me.

Xia Zhuo said: "There is still one day before the next time I invite God. There are many possibilities to achieve the dream, but I am afraid that the dream will not give us so many opportunities to try one by one, so we should collect clues first, and follow the general direction just said. Knowing what happened in Tuping Village in the past, especially why they couldn't conceive children—I think this is the key problem."

Everyone nodded, no comments.

Jian Jian tidied himself up outside the village, it was going to be dark soon.

People rushed home one after another, but the old lady remained motionless, still sitting there and dozing.

Unlike before, Zhao Xiaomeng didn't go up to talk to her again.Feeling that she was not an ordinary character, Xia Zhuo stopped and raised her voice to ask her: "Grandma, aren't you going home?"

The old lady's closed eyes opened a crack, revealing the cloudy eyes inside.Her dry lips moved, and she let out a drawn out voice: "Ah—?"

"Let's go, Xia Ming, she can't hear clearly." Shen Wei said.

Xia Zhuo stared at her for a moment, "Then do you know Liu Zijin?"

The old lady turned her head sideways, put her skinny hands around her ears, and said in the same way: "Ah—?"

Forget it.

Whether it was pretending not to hear or really not hearing, in short, it seemed that they would not answer him.

They already knew what was on the mountain, so there was no need to run over there now, and began to gather information in the village.

Although he knew that the couple could provide them with a temporary residence, Xia Zhuo still set other goals.Everyone waited with him, not knowing what he was waiting for, until a thin figure came back from the mountain in a hurry, Xia Zhuo raised his eyebrows and raised his legs to meet him.

After seeing the stranger, the centipede had a bad attitude on his face, with his hands folded in his sleeves, his eyes full of expulsion: "Where did you come from?"

After getting to know this person briefly, Xia Zhuo knew how to talk to him.He moved out the set of excuses he had thought up a long time ago: "My brother, we are from the capital. It's autumn, and a few friends made an appointment to go on a trip to the mountains and rivers. A bandit snatched all our luggage and carriages, so we had to find a small village to rest for the night. Now that the letter has been sent to the family, the servants in the family are rushing here, and we will arrive by tomorrow afternoon at the latest."

As soon as he heard that he was from a big place, traveling in mountains and rivers with leisure, and there were helpers at home, the expression on the centipede's face changed slightly.

Xia Zhuo strikes while the iron is hot: "I wonder if you can introduce someone who has a vacancy at home for us, and there will be a 'thank you' when the time comes."

Hearing that there is a reward, how can this good thing be shared with others?A smile appeared on the centipede's face immediately, and he said, "This is a trivial matter. Everyone is busy now, and it's getting dark. It's rude to bother others. Why don't you just go to my house and make do with it for the night?"

Xia Zhuo smiled slightly: "Then I will bother you."