Lu Yingjiu warned those people: "Hold the talisman paper, stand still and look at me, it's best not to move a step."
Yang Tianle held the talisman paper given to him by Lu Yingjiu tightly in his hand and nodded repeatedly.
Lu Yingjiu was just about to go find Jing Xian when he suddenly stopped.
Seeing that he was still, Yang Tianle asked cautiously, "What, what happened? Did something happen?"
"The evil spirit has dissipated a lot, but it hasn't completely disappeared." Lu Yingjiu said, "All the ghosts here are dead."
"One?" Yang Tianle's face turned pale. "How many ghosts are there here?"
"I'm not sure. In any case, I have to go find Jingxian now." Lu Yingjiu said.
In fact, he didn't think Jing Xian would be in danger.
Even, the ghost who died just now... might have been done by Jing Xian.
But even if there is a one in ten thousand chance that his inference is wrong, the consequences are something he is unwilling to face.
Lu Yingjiu took one last look at Yang Tianle. They were holding their own talismans and staying where they were without moving. There seemed to be no problem.
He tore off a piece of talisman paper and walked a few meters towards the place where the dark waves were coming from, when he saw Jing Xian just turning the corner.
Lu Yingjiu stopped and said, "...Where have you been?"
Jing Xian said to him: "I accidentally took the wrong path."
Lu Yingjiu pursed his lips, looking unhappy, obviously not believing it: he was just about to abandon Yang Tianle and the others and take the risk to look for Jing Xian, but Jing Xian came back wandering around in a daze, just like he was on a spring outing, and it was obvious that he "got lost" on purpose.
Seeing this, Jing Xian quickly changed the subject: "Have you found the basement?"
"Found it." Lu Yingjiu replied, and he added quietly, "Don't run around next time."
Jing Xian assured: "Okay, I'll listen to you."
The two returned to the stairs. Yang Tianle was also stunned when he saw them: "You came back so soon? Well, well, let's hide quickly. Maybe there are other ghosts out there."
The stairs were very narrow, so Yang Tianle asked the faceless men to hold each other's shoulders and walk down slowly.
This was actually too inefficient. The basement was about two floors below ground level, and it took them almost five minutes to walk this short distance.
Finally, a cold door appeared in front of them.
The door was about five or six meters high and made of bronze.
Lu Yingjiu raised his hand and the talisman paper flew upwards with flames, illuminating the entire gate.
The relief of a hundred ghosts on the facade is different from the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons in traditional artworks. Each ghost in it is tearing each other's faces - the winner holds a bloody piece of skin in his hand and steps on the body of the loser with a wild grin.
In the gaps of the relief, there are mottled traces of liquid, which are black and red, and easily remind people of blood.
This door is really scary.
Yang Tianle didn't dare to get close and asked, "What's this?"
Lu Yingjiu didn't care that the door was dirty. He gently placed his hand in the middle of the door and felt the vibrations above.
The Yin was not severe, but he felt the power of the ghost-exorcising talisman.
To his surprise, the door opened silently without him having to use much force.
A strong stale smell came over, and Yang Tianle looked over in the light of the fire, and saw a strange human face staring at him from high up in the darkness!
His scalp was numb and he couldn't even scream, he just fell backwards and sat on the ground!
Lu Yingjiu was very calm, and stretched out his hand towards the face in the air—
The man's face was located at an extremely high position, and he stood on tiptoe and did not touch it at all.
Just as he was about to use the talisman paper, a hand stretched out from the side.
Jing Xian was very polite and easily tore off the man's face and handed it to Lu Yingjiu carefully, with a look of "please praise" written all over his face.
He said, "Are you still young?"
Lu Yingjiu said helplessly: "Why do I feel like you've asked me this question several times? We're not in a relationship, so don't be so cautious."
Jing Xian: “…”
He looked as if he wanted to say something but was hesitant.
Lu Yingjiu took the person’s face.
That is not actually a real face, but a painting on paper, but the colors and details are so realistic that at first glance, it is impossible to tell the real thing from the fake.
The picture shows a middle-aged man wearing a yellow safety helmet. He has dark skin and several deep grooves between the corners of his eyes and his nose. He looks like a worker on a construction site.
The talisman paper floated deeper into the door, and then a different face appeared in the air.
People of all kinds appear vividly on the screen, like some kind of weird museum.
Lu Yingjiu murmured: "...human skin/mask."
Jing Xian asked: "Is this the blueprint for making a human skin/mask?"
"Yes." Lu Yingjiu said, "These papers show the objects they want to 'imitate' the masks. In other words, this basement is where the Chen family used to make masks."
Yang Tianle was completely confused: "What what what? What are you talking about? What human skin/mask?"
Lu Yingjiu looked at him and suddenly said, "Theoretically, this basement is safe. You can stay here until I find a way out. But..."
Yang Tianle swallowed a lot of water: "But what?"
"If the Chen family really honestly uses animal skins to make masks, then this place is not safe. I'm just afraid that they really used human skins." Lu Yingjiu said, "Don't be malicious. The sheep ghost is obsessed with human faces. It is very likely related to human skins/masks."
Yang Tianle felt a chill down his spine: "Then what should we do?"
“We have to go in, at least to take a look at the situation.” Lu Yingjiu pulled out a few more talisman papers, lit them, and let them float in the air, illuminating a large area.
In the darkness, pictures of human faces emerged.
With the help of the firelight, they could see clearly that the human face painting was actually hung on an iron frame.
Lu Yingjiu took the lead and walked in, and Jing Xian followed closely beside him.
The space behind the door was very large, like a huge production workshop, with an iron frame and a wide workbench. On the workbench were unfinished human skin paintings, several pieces of damaged leather, carving knives, sewing needles and threads, and various dye bottles that had long since dried up. The rich colors condensed on the inner walls of the bottles, turning them almost completely black.
On each iron frame, there were several images of the same person, some were paintings of human faces, some were real photos. Logically speaking, after so many years, they should have become blurred, but I don't know what method the Chen family used to make them all as clear as before.
Lu Yingjiu looked up and scanned countless images.
Jing Xian said: "They are quite dedicated."
"Because the top-notch human skin/mask, even the closest people can't tell when you wear it. With the Chen family's talisman paper, if you slightly change your body shape, it will be easier to deceive the world." Lu Yingjiu said, "This kind of mask requires a very high level of precision in making. Before making it, the maker must spend weeks or even months observing and imitating."
He pointed to one of the racks.
On this frame was the worker they had just seen. There were portraits of him from various angles, front view, left side, right side... In the photos, he was pushing a cart at the construction site, he fell asleep tiredly on the subway, he showed his face while having dinner with his family, he was smoking a cheap cigarette on the balcony late at night - the last two photos were obviously taken from candid angles and looked quite scary.
It's as if someone is always spying on your life and you are totally unaware.
Lu Yingjiu continued, “Even the tiniest expression, a wrinkle at the corner of the eye, the tilt of the mouth when looking up, must be recorded. Even if you don’t draw a new face to imitate someone else, you still need to refer to these real materials. So, these people were often regarded as stalkers or voyeurs in the past.”
Using the firelight, he walked through the entire mask workshop carefully, browsing all the iron racks and workbenches, but found nothing unusual.
Until you reach the southeast corner.
He seemed to see something in a flash, but it was not clear. He moved closer, but there was nothing on the ground. He didn't care that the ground was dirty, and he just swept the dust away.
Dust flew in the air, and a faint symbol mark appeared on the ground out of thin air.
Someone said they had been here before!
That person had used talisman paper to clean up the traces left here.
His skills are very high, if it were someone else, it would be impossible to see it. It's a pity that he came on the wrong road.
Lu Yingjiu made a hand gesture, and the talisman mark flashed a few times and then shattered.
The moment it broke, half a cigarette butt and several footprints appeared on the ground.
There was thick dust all around, and there was also a thin layer of dust on the footprints and cigarette butts, which must have been left there at least a month or two ago. Lu Yingjiu estimated the size of the shoe prints, which were probably size 45-46 shoes, and there was a type of shoe print that should have been left by a man.
This slaughterhouse has been abandoned for so long, how could anyone come back
Could it be that he is also an anchor like Yang Tianle
If this is true, that person must be very lucky that his ancestors didn't run into the sheep ghost.
Yang Tianle and a group of faceless people also squeezed over to see: "Are we still staying here?"
"Someone has been here." Lu Yingjiu pointed at the cigarette butt.
Yang Tianle's already pale face became even paler.
"He came here a long time ago, but this place is really weird." Lu Yingjiu said.
Just then, footsteps suddenly came from behind them!
The footsteps were hurried, echoing in the empty space. Looking in that direction was the door of the workshop. Yang Tianle turned his head sharply and looked at the thick darkness behind him. He was so scared that he subconsciously wanted to lean against the road to greet the wine, but he didn't know why he didn't do so.
Jing Xian squeezed in between the two of them, forcing himself to separate them and preventing Yang Tianle from getting on the road to welcome the wine.
Lu Yingjiu waved his hand, the talisman paper flew out, and the firelight illuminated the face of the visitor.
That sweaty face of Xiao Li.
At his feet, a black fur ball was whirring and sticking out its tongue, its mouth opening to greet the wine. It was it that brought Xiao Li over.
Lu Yingjiu frowned slightly: "Shouldn't I let it notify you guys not to come in yet?"
"Things, things are bad." Xiao Li panted, "I didn't want to come in at first, but, but I don't know how that girl climbed through the window and ran in while I was drawing talismans outside!"
Chen Yanyan ran in by herself
Xiao Li said again: "I was so scared that I came in to look for her. What if we ran into a ghost and something happened? I couldn't find her no matter how hard I tried. Then this..." He looked down at the little black beast at his feet, not knowing what to call for a moment, "this little black beast came to find me and brought me here. Brother Lu, what should we do now?"
Only then did he suddenly notice Yang Tianle and the faceless men standing in a row hand in hand next to him.
He was slightly startled for a moment, with a look of "Oh shit" written all over his face.
Little Black Beast: "Ah!"
It rubbed against Lu Yingjiu's feet.
Lu Yingjiu picked it up and said, "I'm going to go look for her. Jingxian, you and Xiao Li stay here, and I'll be back."
Jing Xian said: "I still want to be with you..."
"It's not safe here," Lu Yingjiu said, "If you don't come here, I won't be able to go look for someone with peace of mind."
Jing Xian wanted to speak more, but was interrupted by Lu Yingjiu. He looked at Jing Xian seriously, "I won't ask about your secrets. I don't know why, but I trusted you from the beginning. I won't doubt my intuition, so, protect them, okay?"
He is so sincere.
Jing Xian looked at him silently. Lu Yingjiu saw that the firelight fell into the man's deep black eyes, like some tiny light burning in the abyss.
The two of them looked at each other for a second or two, but Lu Yingjiu felt like a long time had passed.
Hou Jingxian nodded and promised: "I won't let anything happen to them. You should be careful too."
Lu Ying was drunk: "Okay, I'm leaving."
He held the little black beast in his arms and walked neatly into the darkness.
After opening the workshop door, he turned around and looked at Jing Xian again through the countless faces.
Jing Xian was standing against the wall, his figure was tall, the lines of his long legs were outlined vividly by the firelight, and his eyebrows and eyes were extremely handsome - or rather, his eyes were on Lu Yingjiu from beginning to end and never moved away.
Seeing Lu Yingjiu turning around, Jing Xian glanced at him.
Outside the workshop, the corridor was pitch black.
Lu Yingjiu continued to light the talisman paper, letting it float beside him, emitting a dim light, illuminating the long road ahead.
Most of the time he acted alone. Firstly because of his personality, and secondly because he was strong enough. After so many years, he had long been accustomed to walking alone among the rampant ghosts.
At this moment, behind him, where the light disappeared, there was a black fog silently moving through.
The ferocious-looking priests followed him, with flower-like marks on their bodies. They obeyed the orders of the ghost king, turned into black mist, and followed Lu Yingjiu from a distance. In the mist, one could vaguely see fangs, red eyes, and pale ghost hands, swords, spears, halberds, axes, hooks, and forks. All kinds of divine weapons flashed with cold light.
If any ghost dares to approach, kill them without mercy.
When they reached the fork in the road, Lu Yingjiu put the little black beast on the ground.
The little black beast sniffed the ground, and finally, howling, it ran in one direction with him.
…
Xiao Li and Yang Tianle huddled in the corner of the workshop. The three faceless men were still holding hands and sitting in a row like elementary school students.
Jing Xian pulled a chair and sat down.
There was no expression on his face, but Xiao Li inexplicably felt that he was a little unhappy.
Maybe he was worried about Lu Ge? He guessed so.
The atmosphere was a little tense and a little awkward.
The three of them didn't know each other and had nothing to talk about. It wasn't a good time for them to chat either.
Just as Xiao Li continued to guess who Lu Ge's friend named "Jing Xian" was, Jing Xian suddenly asked, "Are you familiar with Lu Yingjiu?"
"Me?" Xiao Li was a little nervous when asked this question suddenly. "I, I, I have always known Brother Lu. It was a one-sided acquaintance. He didn't recognize me before."
Jing Xian nodded, and then asked casually, "Did he tell you the story of his longevity lock?"
"Longevity lock..." Xiao Li recalled.
Lu Yingjiu had told him about this before. When Ye Feng was at Zhong Ai's house, Lu Yingjiu told him that this was a gift from his ghost marriage partner. Later, when Ye Feng was drunk, he seemed to have mentioned it to him and chatted with him.
Xiao Li said: "Oh, I did."
Jing Xian asked: "What did he say specifically?" There was a hint of subtle expectation in his tone.
Xiao Li replied: "He said it was given to him by his wife."
Jingxian:
"...Wife?" He hesitated.
"Yes," Xiao Li recalled what Ye Feng said, "You are his old friend, you should know about this. The ghost marriage with Brother Lu is not a very beautiful female ghost, with a hot body, a protruding front and a curved back, and an outstanding grace. Maybe she is also very virtuous, and will be a good wife and mother who can take care of Brother Lu... Why do you look like this?"
Jing Xian's expression froze immediately.
"Hot body", "curvy figure", "a graceful and virtuous wife and mother" were echoing in his ears. For a moment, his expression was unpredictable, and he was filled with confusion, bewilderment, hesitation and a little bit of disbelief, which were reflected vividly on his handsome face.
"Female ghost?!" He sat up straight, "The female ghost he mentioned in the ghost marriage?!"
"Yes." Xiao Li didn't know why he was so excited all of a sudden, and added carefully, "It's always been like that. He can't marry a male ghost."
Jing Xian: “…”
He was hit hard.
He didn't have the slightest idea of "Lu Yingjiu thought she was marrying a female ghost"... If you think about it carefully, normal people's thinking is indeed not to marry the opposite sex. So many years have passed, and he didn't show up at all, so Lu Yingjiu would not think so!
Suddenly, a soft sound was heard from the distance in the workshop.
Yang Tianle immediately became alert: "What's that sound?"
Xiao Li also swallowed. Although he was very nervous and timid, he was an exorcist after all, and he had to be brave enough to protect ordinary people. He tightly grasped a few pieces of talisman paper: "I, I'll go and take a look." He looked at Jing Xian, "Then you, you, you continue to stay here with them."
Jing Xian was still immersed in the blow and didn't have much thought, so he nodded slightly.
He already knew where the noise came from. It wasn't a person or a ghost, but...
Two minutes later, Xiao Li came back with a pale face. His face showed that he wanted to scream, but his professional ethics made him hold back the scream, which made his expression look extremely distorted.
Yang Tianle: “Is there a ghost?”
"No, no, no, no," Xiao Li stammered, "Oh, oh, what a huge cockroach! There's a cockroach as big as a mouse!"
Affected by the cold weather here, the nest of cockroaches had obviously mutated. Each one was bigger than a mouse, with a greasy and shiny shell. They huddled together and rustled, and flew towards him with their wings spread! Little Li was afraid of insects, so he was so scared that he rolled back.
"It's good that there are no ghosts, it's good that there are no ghosts." Yang Tianle patted his chest, "No matter how big the cockroach is, it can't eat people."
Xiao Li sat down again, panting, still in shock, and quickly brought the talisman paper left by Lu Yingjiu closer: cockroaches should not dare to approach the fire.
He turned around and saw Jing Xian still sitting on the chair, his profile looking stiff and a little melancholy in the firelight.
… It seems that he is still struggling with the matter of the “female ghost”.
After a few minutes, the atmosphere fell silent again, Jing Xian asked again: "Did he say anything else to you? About ghost marriage."
Xiao Li replied: "Nothing."
Jing Xian just relaxed when he heard Xiao Li add, "After all, ghost marriages are illegal, so he doesn't want to talk about it too much."
Jing Xian:
Jing Xian's voice rose a few degrees: "Ghost marriage is illegal?!"
How come he doesn't know about this!
He is such a living person... but the dead man is here! Why is it illegal to marry him?!
Xiao Li was shocked by his reaction again: "Well, that's not true. But if you steal a corpse or its ashes to get married, it will be defined as 'insulting a corpse'. I was wrong, I was wrong. What Lu Ge did is definitely not illegal, but it is not recognized by the law."
Jing Xian sat up straight again: "So, his household registration says 'unmarried'?"
"Yes, yes, isn't that appropriate?"
unmarried.
Unmarried, unmarried, unmarried.
Unmarried, unmarried, unmarried, unmarried.
Jing Xian suffered two blows in a short period of time, which were no less than being struck by thunder, and his hands were shaking.
He and Lu Yingjiu got married, which was acknowledged by the ghost world, which meant that all ghosts knew that he had been married for a long time.
But,
Why,
Lu Yingjiu is still unmarried
He doesn't like this...
He is being scumbag!!
This is definitely a scumbag, right?!
Xiao Li saw that the man in front of him looked ashen and there was no hope in his eyes. He had no idea what was going on.
He was about to ask when he heard a rustling sound in the air.
He turned around suddenly and saw several cockroaches as big as rats crawling towards them! Some of them even spread their wings and took off!
His scalp tingled: "Ah! Ah! Help me!"
No one responded.
When Xiao Li turned around, the three faceless men didn't react at all - they certainly wouldn't react either. Yang Tianle was even more scared than him, and Jing Xian...
Jing Xian, like Yang Tianle, sat in the corner and shut himself in, his eyes empty, as if he had suffered a fatal blow.
Xiao Li was alone facing the cockroaches all over the place and felt extremely desperate.
…
Lu Yingjiu followed the little black beast all the way to the door of the women's locker room.
The door was ajar, he pushed it gently and asked: "Why are you here?"
In the room, Chen Yanyan turned around suddenly, her voice tearing up: "I don't know either. My eyes blurred, and when I reacted, the person was already here. Fortunately, you came!"
Lu Yingjiu said: "I'm glad you're alright, come with me, the others are coming with you."
Chen Yanyan stood up immediately: "Yeah." She went up, took Lu Yingjiu's hand tightly, and followed him back to the corridor as if she was very scared.
She was very beautiful, and even in her panic, she was still very charming.
As they walked along, she bit her red lips gently and asked softly, "What's going on now? Is there a ghost here?"
"Yes, there are ghosts that can peel off people's skin, and there are more than one." Lu Yingjiu said, "The way out is also blocked. I will take you to a safe place and then find a way to deal with the ghosts."
"Oh..." Chen Yanyan's voice trembled, "Will the ghost that's haunting me show up here?"
"Very likely."
They chatted in this way.
When they were almost at the basement and turned the corner, Chen Yanyan suddenly cried out in a low voice, loosened her grip on Lu Yingjiu's hand, and bent down: "Help me, my shoelaces are loose!"
Before Lu Yingjiu turned around, she squatted down. She had just finished surgery and was too weak to be exposed to the wind. She was still wearing a thin coat and a pair of fashionable short boots. At this moment, she moved her hand and took out the thing that was attached to the inside of her forearm and quickly stuffed it into her right boot.
Then she pulled the already loose shoelaces and tied a knot with one hand with some difficulty.
"Okay." She said, and went up to hold Lu Yingjiu's hand tightly, showing a happy face, "Thank you for loving me!"
"Yeah." Lu Yingjiu also drank.
His expression was somewhat subtle, as if he was not serious, and there seemed to be a hint of sneer in his brows.
Chen Yanyan was frightened for a moment, thinking that Lu Yingjiu had seen through her little trick. But Lu Yingjiu didn't say anything more and continued to walk forward.
Chen Yanyan relaxed and asked again: "Are those ghosts powerful? Will we be in danger?"
"Don't worry about your life being in danger." Lu Yingjiu said, "At least, you won't die before me."
He said this very confidently and frankly. Chen Yanyan was stunned for a second or two, then raised her head to look at his profile, her ears feeling slightly hot.
As she started walking towards the basement, she heard Lu Yingjiu say, "And it's not just me, there are two other people as well. Although Xiao Li looks cowardly, he is very brave at the critical moment and is a qualified exorcist. As for Jing Xian..." He considered the words, "He is also very powerful."
"That's good, that's good." Chen Yanyan said, "There are two more fighting forces!"
They walked past a workbench covered with human face paintings. Chen Yanyan couldn't help but look around and held Lu Yingjiu's hand even tighter.
They kept going towards the corner they were just at.
As soon as they walked over, they saw a pile of dead cockroaches on the ground and three people paralyzed in the corner.
Yang Tianle was extremely terrified, Xiao Li looked ashen, and Jing Xian had empty eyes.
All the negative emotions that humans can have are fully reflected in them.
Lu Yingjiu: “…”
The two fighting forces he just mentioned collapsed directly, and no one knew what had made them like this.
Especially Jing Xian, he never thought Jing Xian would show such an expression.
—It seems that he didn't know that it was completely different things that brought down these three people.
He walked over, squatted in front of Jing Xian, and patted his shoulder: "What's wrong with you?"
Jing Xian grabbed his hand, his eyes full of resentment, as if there were thousands of accusations contained in this look.
"Scum," he said.
Road welcomes wine: