red and white

The sharp alarm bell rang throughout the bedroom.

The alarm clock was set to ring continuously for 3 minutes each time, and then every 5 minutes. The bell rang for about half an hour before Anping opened his eyes.

It's not that he didn't wake up, but that he couldn't recover.

The deafening sound of gunfire in the dream made him dizzy and numb in his hands and feet. It took him a long time to realize that he had woken up.He forced himself to stand up, his legs went limp, and he knelt down by the trash can and vomited.

The night before, he stayed up late to study, and he fell asleep on the table. He caught a cold and his stomach was in a mess.Memories are like blood wrung out of a rag, images of limbs flying in front of me keep flashing, the sky is dark, corpses are strewn all over the field, bullets are raining, and blood flows into rivers.

Anping managed to finish his vomit, and when he looked up, he saw the historical notes he had sorted out last night, in black and white, and every battle was clearly listed.Immediately, my mood was ups and downs, and I bowed my head and vomited loudly.

He really should have set the alarm clock earlier.Anping crawled to the bathroom to wash up as if he was exhausted, he had a very important exam today, otherwise he would not want to go to school without saying anything.

All kinds of dreams, mixed feelings.

He suddenly wanted to see Mu Gesheng very much.

However, Mu Gesheng did not come to school, which is not surprising. Although he has not taken sick leave much recently, he still copies the homework he can copy, and skips the exams he can pass.However, Anping has given up a lot of slander about this today. He looked at the history test paper and hadn't written for a long time. Suddenly, he had the urge to hand in a blank paper.

Compared with experiencing all kinds of things in person, the black and white words are too thin.

After school at noon, there were still two consecutive exams in the afternoon. Anping didn’t go home at all. He went to the cafeteria and bought a random stir-fry. Can't eat it.

"Student committee, what's wrong with you?" The tablemate who came to eat with him saw that Anping's state was not right, "Are you feeling unwell?"

Anping put down his chopsticks and waved his hands, "I'm fine."

"It's all right, I knew something was wrong with you in the morning, and I gave you a signal several times to send you the answer, but you ignored it." The deskmate wiped his mouth, got up and pulled Anping out, "Don't feel uncomfortable. Hold on, I'll take you to the infirmary."

"I'm really fine..."

"Hey, you have such a great opportunity to pass the exam, and others can't ask for it, so I asked if you could be more enlightened." The tablemate dragged Anping out of the cafeteria without any explanation, "You are just too rigid..."

Before the words fell, there was a loud "bang" not far away, followed by a series of sounds of brick walls collapsing.The deskmate was dumbfounded, and murmured: "Damn, is that the teaching building collapsed?"

The two of them stared at each other for a while, and suddenly the tablemate slapped his thigh and looked at Anping: "Then we don't need to take the exam?"

Anping: "..."

Soon a teacher came out to maintain order, the campus was noisy and tossed a lot, and finally everyone gathered in the playground, and the school made a general statement on the situation.The teaching building has been in disrepair for a long time, and part of the ceiling on the top floor collapsed. Fortunately, no casualties were caused. The school is temporarily closed and the start time is to be determined.

"I'm going, it's true." The deskmate pinched himself, "One of my wishes since I was a child is that the school collapses—but is our school building really so tofu? Trembling..."

"It shouldn't be." Anping stood on the playground for a long time, feeling dizzy, and forced himself to say: "City No. [-] High School is a century-old school, and what happened just now is an old teaching building, which should be very old, and the school will definitely focus on maintenance. You shouldn't just say something happened..." Before he could finish speaking, his eyes darkened and he fell to the ground.

"I'll go! School Committee! At the same table?!...Are you okay...?"

Anping vaguely saw the face of his deskmate yelling, his headache was splitting, he couldn't hold it any longer, and eventually passed out.

He heard faint laughter.

Very light, like the fluff on a cat's paw, scratching my heart one by one.

"...Why is this person here again?"

"I'm afraid I won't be able to get out this time..."

Anping was confused, and his mind was dizzy. He tried to open his eyes, but all he saw was darkness, with a dim red light floating around.

What is this place?

He sat up and found himself lying on the concrete floor, his hands and feet were cold, but there was a warmth in his chest, as if something was heating up.He leaned over and saw that it was a jade buckle for body protection.

A jade buckle stained with the blood of Muge.

This jade buckle was bought by Anping's mother from an auction. She said it was an antique, and it was meant to keep her safe. He had been carrying it since he was a child.Except for the time when he ran into Sanlu by mistake, this jade buckle did not play any role, and although it was stained with Mu Gesheng's blood afterwards, there was no other abnormality except for making him dream.

Now Yukou is slightly hot, which really seems to be some kind of protection.

Anping stood up, took out the jade buckle, and held it up in front of him. The warm jade color glowed warmly, slightly illuminating the darkness in the space.

When he saw the things in front of him clearly, Anping froze in place for a moment, then his scalp exploded, and cold sweat broke out all over his body.

Although the situation has changed a lot, he will not admit his mistake.

This is a three way room!

The air was filled with suffocating dryness and turbid fishy smell, and there was a sense of dryness and coldness. This smell was exactly the same as when he came last time, only stronger.Anping was frightened for a moment, and then quickly realized, why is he here?

This is not a dream, Anping clearly felt the difference between the surrounding atmosphere and the dream, he really came to Santu again.Anping forcibly calmed down, and began to quickly recall everything he had experienced before—the exam, the collapse of the teaching building, and then he seemed to faint, and after waking up, he entered the Santu room...

The collapse of the teaching building - Anping's intuition must have something to do with Santu.The city's No. [-] high school is the key point, and the school is not short of money, so it is impossible for the school to ignore maintenance.He suddenly thought of what Mu Gesheng had said before, "The old town has a history of hundreds of years, and there are many ancient buildings near Shiyi High School. This generation was at its peak in the Republic of China. Similarly, when there were wars back then, the most people died."

"We have probably crashed into this kind of half-yin and yang place now. This kind of crack is also called 'Santujian'. It is located between the heaven and the earth and the underground. Something half-dead, neither human nor ghost."

"It's not a trivial matter for Santu to appear in the human world. Those idlers in Fengdu were a little frightened, and hurriedly searched for the reason."

The battlefield, between the three routes, Fengdu.

There seems to be a thread somewhere that connects everything together.

Anping suddenly had a creepy guess, what does the current Santu have to do with the original Yin-Yang Ladder?

Is the ancient southeast city back then the city he lives in now?

There is also the collapse of the teaching building for no reason, and Anping instinctively thought of the collapse of Guan Shanyue in his dream-the reason was the riot of Yin soldiers.

Reminiscent of all the things before, Mu Gesheng said that he is a dead person, so how did they solve the catastrophe of the Yin soldiers a hundred years ago?If the Yin soldiers had completely disappeared, how could Fengdu turn pale with shock because of the appearance of Santujian?

Anping didn't dare to think about it anymore, he only had one thought now - to get out alive, and then go to find Mugesheng immediately.

Anping held up the jade button to illuminate, and walked forward boldly. The scenery during the three journeys was completely different from the last time. It was no longer the teaching building a few years ago, but turned into chaos, only the stairs under his feet stretched endlessly. At the end of the day, faint laughter floated around, as if someone was watching his every move.Anping became more and more frightened as he walked, drenched in cold sweat, and didn't even care about the headache—there was no other reason, this place was so much like the yin and yang ladder back then!

He was a little afraid to go down, and if he went so deep, could it be that he really wanted to go to Fengdu?Besides, the Yin-Yang Ladder was extremely long, and with his footsteps, he might starve to death on the way.

At the moment when Anping was full of thoughts, there was sudden laughter, and something patted him on the shoulder.

Anping's hairs stood on end immediately, he had read a lot of novels, he had seen this kind of scene of ghosts patting his shoulders in the middle of the night, and he absolutely couldn't look back, so he ran away in fright.However, the laughter seemed to be chasing him, always faintly present, Anping occasionally stopped to catch his breath, and suddenly something slapped him on the shoulder, which was so cold that he didn't dare to stop, and went down the road all the way.

I don't know how long it took, but he couldn't run anymore and had to slow down.But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, there was the sound of scratching nails and giggling from the bottom of the stairs. Something climbed up and said vaguely: "...you are finally here..."

From the corner of the eye of the jade button, Anping took a clear look at the thing that climbed up—it was a nightmare puppet, exactly the same as the one he saw last time during Santu. The old eyes are dim, the cleaning is not clean, and there are fish that slip through the net.

Mu Gesheng was old and dim-sighted, but it hurt him badly. Now Anping realized that the laughter that had been chasing him just now was made by this nightmare puppet!I don't know what method this thing used to lure him here all the way, it's exactly what it wants!He is in a hurry to court death!

Anping stared at the nightmare puppet on the ground, and was so frightened that he backed up a few steps, staggered and fell on the steps.This is so unstoppable, Nightmare Puppet suddenly let out a sharp laugh, violently burst into the ground, and was about to pounce on Anping.Anping was so frightened that he closed his eyes and yelled, thinking that he would die anyway!During this period of time, he has also seen a lot, at worst, he will ask someone to find Mu Gesheng in the Palace of the King of Hell!

Sooner or later, a blade of light shot up from below, splitting the nightmare puppet in half instantly, the aftermath shook the red rope around Anping's neck, and the jade clasp fell to the ground with a "slap", the light went out, and the surroundings were once again trapped dark.

Before Anping realized what happened, there were footsteps coming from the bottom of the stairs, someone picked up the jade buckle on the ground, and paused, "Is this your thing?"

He couldn't tell if there was a living person or a dead person, but at least he seemed to be reasonable. Anping closed his eyes and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, it's mine." After a pause, he added: "The antique certificate is still in my house."

"Sorry for breaking your red rope."

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter." Anping couldn't figure out the origin of the other party, and he couldn't see his face. He was so frightened that he couldn't choose what to say.

The other party didn't say anything, walked up and put the jade clasp in his hand, "Put it away."

Then grabbed his back collar and said: "Offended."

Before Anping could react, he felt a strong force coming from behind, and the other party picked him up, swung him on the spot, and threw him out.

The jade buckle returned to Anping's hand, and the light was shining again. With the faint peripheral vision, Anping vaguely saw a red long knife.

He suddenly felt that the other party's voice was familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere.

"...School Committee! At the same table!"

When Anping woke up, he found himself lying in the infirmary.

"You've woken up!" The tablemate yelled and rushed forward, "If you say you're dizzy, you'll be dizzy, you scared me to death!"

Anping closed his eyes, a little confused about the situation, "What happened?" Isn't he in Santu?Why did you come back suddenly?Still in the infirmary?

"You still ask! At that time on the playground, you fainted before you finished speaking. Fortunately, the teachers were all there, and they carried you directly to the infirmary." The deskmate said: "You scared me to death, please come back and invite me Drink milk tea to calm the shock, do you hear me?"

"It's easy to say." Anping rubbed his temples, "I owe you a milk tea, I will make it up later."

"Don't talk about milk tea, you young people don't know how to pay attention to your body." The medical staff in white coats walked to the bed, "You have a low fever after catching a cold, and your heart rate is unstable—did you stay up late last night?"

"Yes." Anping nodded, his nasal cavity was a bit blocked, "I didn't sleep well."

"I know that you are under a lot of pressure to study, and you still have to play with your mobile phone after finishing your homework in the middle of the night, so you can stay up all night." The medical staff snorted, "I prescribed medicine for you, remember to take it when you leave, it just happens that the school is on holiday for maintenance, so go home and have a good rest Go. Where are your parents? Go back and eat something light, don't be heavy on oil and spicy for the taste."

When mentioning the parents, the tablemate glanced at him and whispered, "Have your parents come back yet?"

"Not yet, maybe we have to wait until the Chinese New Year." Anping shook his head, "It's okay, I can take care of myself."

"Do you want me to go to your house?" The deskmate looked at him worriedly, "Just copy my homework later."

Before the words were finished, the door of the infirmary was kicked open suddenly, and someone walked in, "His parent is me."

Anping was taken aback for a moment, but it was Wu Biyou who came.

"Are you his parent?" The medical staff looked suspiciously at the teenager in front of them, "Are you an adult?"

Wu Biyou didn't answer at all, walked straight to An Ping, looked down at him with a stinky face, "Follow me."

"Who is this person? Your brother? I haven't heard that you have a brother?" The deskmate leaned over to Anping and whispered, "You look so bad, do you owe him money?"

Anping thought in his heart that I didn't owe him any money, but Mu Gesheng was not sure.

But he also knew that it was no coincidence that Ubi appeared in Shiyi High School at this time. The young man looked gloomy and irritable, and he must have been sent by Mu Gesheng.Anping had experienced Ubi's temper before, so he didn't say much, got up and said, "Let's go."

The tablemate was worried, but Wu Biyou's face looked really scary, and he didn't dare to stop him, so he had to secretly send a text message to Anping: If you have anything to do, remember to call me, if you can't, call the police.

rest assured.Anping replied: He is an urban management officer and will not break the law or discipline.

Wu Biyou really came to look for him in a city management trailer. The tricycle parked proudly in front of Shi Yigao without even pulling out the car keys. Happy birthday came from the loudspeaker. A large group of people looked up.Wu Biyou pulled a shared bicycle from the trailer and threw it to Anping, "That old bastard is looking for you, go to Chenghuang Temple by yourself."

"What happened?" Anping stopped Wu Biyou, this person would not listen to Mugesheng easily, but now he came to pick him up from school specially, something must have happened to Mugesheng.

"I brought the words, why are you talking so much nonsense." Ubi clicked impatiently, pushed Anping away, got in the car and closed the door, "Go and ask him yourself." After saying that, he stepped on the accelerator and walked away.

Anping stood where he was, looked at the shared bicycle at hand, parked it decisively on the side of the road, and took a taxi to Chenghuang Temple.

This time, the scalper at the gate didn't stop Anping from buying the ticket, he just waved his hand and let him go, reminding him as if he knew his purpose: "He's in the courtyard, if you can't see him, go to the wing and call him."

As soon as Anping entered the door, he saw Mu Gesheng. This man was standing under the ginkgo tree, still looking like an enamel jar in pajamas, holding a copper coin in his hand. Hearing the sound, he turned his head and smiled at him: "Come on."

Anping stepped forward, just about to say something, but Mu Gesheng handed him the enamel jar, "Drink this."

The enamel jar was warm and exuded a faint medicinal smell. Anping sniffed it, "What is this?"

"Brown sugar water with sweet-scented osmanthus, nourishes qi and blood, specially for women."

Well, Anping rolled his eyes and drank the contents of the enamel jar. He felt warmer all over his body and his head was no longer so groggy. "You know I'm sick?"

"I probably know what you dreamed about." Mu Gesheng rubbed the money in his hand, "The city has collapsed?"

"Yes." Anping nodded, "You figured it out?"

"Don't count, it's time." Mu Gesheng noticed Anping's eyes, and handed him the copper coin in his hand, "The mountain ghost spends money, you should have seen it many times in your dreams."

Anping did often see these copper coins in his dreams. Tiansuan personally handed down 49 mountain ghosts to spend money. The ancient copper coins were wrapped in a layer of patina, which can be seen from a long time ago. "Why don't you use your steel coins today?" Anping suddenly realized that in reality, he had never seen Mu Gesheng spend money with mountain ghosts.

"When I woke up in the morning, I didn't think it was right, so I calculated it." Mu Gesheng said: "If you figure it out, something will happen to you, but there are too many things involved between us, ordinary steel coins are not accurate, so we can only use mountain ghosts to spend money. "

As he spoke, he glanced at Anping, and it was a declarative sentence, "You have fallen into the Santu again."

"Yes." Only then did Anping think of the important thing, and he opened his mouth with a lot of questions: "What is the relationship between the school landslide and Santu? Is it related to the Yin soldiers back then? Is Santu a Yin-Yang ladder? By the way I was also saved by someone, who is that person?"

"Slow down, come one by one, I'm getting old and my memory is bad." Mu Gesheng waved his hands, "You should be aware of some things. This is the city I lived in back then."

really.

"At the beginning, the Yin soldiers rioted, and we forcibly suppressed it, but the price was very high, and my memory was faulted." Mu Gesheng said: "You should have realized it when you were dreaming, and some key points are blurred."

Anping was taken aback for a moment, and then said: "Then how much do you remember?"

"I only know some clues - the Yin soldiers were forcibly wiped out back then, and there were heavy casualties. But there are still some grievances that cannot be completely eradicated. I spent a mountain ghost and spent money to seal them again." Mu Gesheng said slowly. : "Santu is not a Yin-Yang Ladder, but it is a space formed by the leakage of resentment from the Yin-Yang Ladder. The resentment has been sealed in the Yin-Yang Ladder for a hundred years, and the repression has been loosened. The city was built on the ground veins, so it suddenly collapsed."

Anping was terrified, "You mean—those Yin soldiers from back then are coming out again?" The tragedy in the dream was vivid in his memory, and he could see the overwhelming blood color as soon as he closed his eyes.He didn't dare to imagine the consequences if the Yin soldiers who had paid an incomparably heavy price to suppress them made a comeback again.

"Don't worry, I'm here." Mu Gesheng looked at Anping's expression and laughed, "Do you know the name of the street outside the Town God's Temple?"

"Chengxi Street..." Anping suddenly realized, "What does this have to do with Chengxi Pass?"

"Many people think that Chengxi Street is the westernmost part of the old city, so it is called Chengxi Street. In fact, this is not the case. The end of this street is the place where the Yinyang Ladder was sealed off. I have lived in Chenghuang Temple for a long time, just to guard Here." Mu Gesheng patted Anping's shoulder, "I'm here, this is Chengxi Pass, and the Yin soldiers can't come out."

Anping looked at Mu Gesheng, not knowing what to say for a while.

"You have been in the Three-way Room, and you have been exposed to the smell there. Recently, the ground veins are unstable, and it is easy to fall in again." Mu Gesheng led Anping into the side room, "You stay here tonight, and wait for the rain to pass. , everything is fine."

"After the rain?" Anping looked up at the sky, and there was no cloud in the sky. "The weather forecast says it will be sunny in the near future?"

"The weather forecast is inaccurate." Mu Gesheng threw the money in his hand, "It will rain heavily tonight."

"Don't be afraid if you hear anything at night. My daughter will come. Although the young man has a bad temper, his heart is not dark." Muge Sheng said leisurely: "I didn't ask him to pick you up. It has changed, and I am rushing to go to Shiyi High to save people."

This was beyond Anping's expectation, "Who saved me during the three trips?"

"The old man." The old god Muge Sheng smiled on the ground, "Don't worry, you will know in the future."