The faint scent of roses filled the air, Cheng Zhichu suddenly felt a strong dizziness, his eyes were black and he almost fainted.
When he opened his eyes and his vision returned to normal, he was stunned to find himself standing in the sea of roses in full bloom, the red petals flying all over the sky, and the breeze was full of rich fragrance.
"Zhichu, come over here, how about this photo Dad took for you?"
At this time, Cheng Zhichu found that his body was not under his control. He seemed to be staying in another person's body. Hearing the familiar call, the owner of the body moved his eyes, and then Cheng Zhichu saw the still very young. Dad, who was holding a digital camera in his hand, gave him a gentle smile.
dad? Why is he here
Cheng Zhi was stunned for a while, and then realized that his field of vision was very low, and his voice was quite immature: "Okay, Dad, I'm coming out."
Then his gaze lowered, Cheng Zhichu saw a pair of small white and tender hands, and carefully pushed the roses away so as not to let the thorns pierce him, and moved out slowly.
Is this your childhood self
Cheng Zhichu suddenly remembered the portrait he had seen before he fell into a coma. In the painting, he was standing in the middle of a sea of roses, with a bright smile and innocent, clear eyes that were not stained with dust.
Could it be that he is now in the world in the painting, still attached to his own body when he was a child
What about the game of hide and seek? The ghost once mentioned that the place where the game is played is not in the villa, but somewhere else. If it refers to the world in the painting, now he can't gain control of his body, how should he play the game
And there seems to be a lot of people here, who did the ghost turn into, and which "person" did he hide from
At this time, the wind was blowing in the air. In Cheng Zhichu's field of vision, the petals changed their shape in an instant, and they became invisible words.
"The game hasn't started yet, and after the countdown is over, you'll take control of your body, but it's not the time yet."
"During this time, you'll learn what you're hiding."
"You can guess who the 'person' you're hiding is."
Cheng Zhichu was a little uneasy, tried to open the system backpack, and called the system and the bear, but got no response, and the petals changed the way they were arranged, forming a new sentence.
"Don't try to call 'it' again, it doesn't make sense."
"The rules here are equally valid for you and me, we can only use our power as 'human'."
"You can only rely on yourself."
In other words, he will use this child's body to escape later
Cheng Zhichu's heart sank slightly. After he finished reading the text, the petals suddenly disintegrated and melted into the wind.
But tourists near the sea of flowers seem to be ignorant of this strange phenomenon, and are still enjoying this rare beauty.
The boy also didn't notice the weirdness of the petals. After taking the photo, he happily jumped into his father's arms, took a digital camera and looked at the photos inside, until his father said it was time to take a photo of his sister, he took the picture. The camera was handed to Dad, who stood by and waited.
"Lingling, like your brother, stand in the flower, but don't go too far, don't step on the flower. Also, be careful of the spikes on the flower stem."
"Um!"
The little girl, who was younger than the boy, nodded obediently, stood among the flowers, with a sweet smile on her face, pulled up the hem of her gauze skirt, and put on a very cute pose for her father to take pictures of her.
At this time, she didn't notice the protrusions of the clods under her feet, and stepped on it accidentally, her body suddenly crooked, and she suddenly fell to the ground.
"Lingling, are you alright?" The smiling mother immediately showed concern and asked with concern.
"I'm fine, fortunately I didn't sit on these flowers!"
The little girl responded to her mother with a smile, patted the soil on her body and stood up, only quietly relieved when she saw that Rose was not hurt by her.
While observing the roses, she suddenly saw a small white patch under the flower bushes. Since she didn't know what it was, she picked it up curiously and found that it was a very hard object, like a stone, but the surrounding area was jagged. The uneven edges and corners are more like the fragments left after the crack of a hard object.
"Look, what is this?"
The little girl picked up the pieces and showed them to her family. Cheng Zhichu saw this piece through his younger self, and was slightly surprised, because it looked like a cracked bone.
"It looks like a bone...?"
After the two adults did some research, they also came to the same conclusion as Cheng Zhichu. The two children immediately became curious and asked why there were bone fragments here.
Dad thought for a while and said with a smile: "Maybe there is an ancient tomb underground, with many treasures buried in it—haha, this is a joke, in fact, this should be the bones that were brought here by accident, because we are not very clear."
The whole family laughed, but Cheng Zhichu didn't think so. The ghost brought him here and let him see these scenes, which means that this bone fragment is likely to be a human bone. Maybe there are dead people buried under the flower, or there may even be more than one.
… Could it have something to do with the ghosts of those little children? Thinking of this, his mood became a little heavier.
He wanted to take a few more glances at the bone fragments, but both adults asked the girl to throw the bone fragments back into the distance, and dragged the children away, giving him no chance to look again.
The two adults took pictures of each other again, and praised each other's photos as very good-looking. Mom was embarrassed by Dad's praise, but she was very happy. She covered her face and smiled and said, "The scenery here is still beautiful. We are very lucky to be able to make an appointment to enter here."
"That's right." Dad nodded and said, "I also heard that Zhou Luochen lives in this villa area. If I can see his real person, I will have no regrets this time. You know, I have always liked his paintings very much. …”
"Look there, there seems to be a group of children sketching from life?"
Mom suddenly looked somewhere, pointed to it from a distance, and said, "There is also an adult who seems to be a teacher guiding them. Look, does that person look a bit like Zhou Luochen?"
"Really, it's Zhou Luochen himself!"
Dad observed it carefully for a while, then said with surprise and joy, "Should we go over and talk to him?"
"You go with Zhichu first. I'll take Lingling to find a nearby bathroom. She just kept saying that she wanted to go to the bathroom, and we'll come back to you in a while."
"Okay, hurry up and come back." Dad waved to the boy and said, "Zhichu, let's go, Dad will take you to see the painter that Dad likes very much."
The boy nodded, held his father's hand, detoured the walking path, walked through the flowers, and came to the man. This young man named Zhou Luochen was handsome, with a clean temperament, but he seemed to contain a touch of melancholy. He was gently bending over and instructing a young man's painting.
"Excuse me, are you Teacher Zhou Luochen Zhou?"
"Yes, I'm Zhou Luochen, may I ask you—"
Hearing the voice of the boy's father, Zhou Luochen got up and turned to them, and the handsome boy who was painting also raised his head.
When their eyes fell on the boy, they all showed a very surprised look. Zhou Luochen even forgot to speak and stared at the boy in a daze.
It was not until the boy hid behind his father that he seemed to wake up from a dream, with a bit of apology in his smile, and said to the boy's father, "Sorry, hello, I am Zhou Luochen."
"Hello, Mr. Zhou!"
Seeing the painter he likes, the man is quite excited, even a little at a loss, and starts a conversation with the man: "I have always liked your paintings..."
"It was my pleasure..."
"… "
The two of them chatted very happily. The boy stood there a little boring, the handsome young man put down his drawing board, squatted beside him, tilted his head and looked at him, still muttering to himself in disbelief.
"Like, it's so similar... You and the child in my cousin's painting are exactly the same. He clearly said that it was what he dreamed of when he was dreaming. Could it be that he has been lying to us?"
"What are you talking about? I don't understand." The boy pursed his lips, a little confused.
"I'll explain to you later, I have to call my cousin first, but where is he now..."
The young man scratched his hair, with an irritable look on his face: "Who told him to skip this class, not bring a mobile phone, and don't know where to hide, if I let you go like this, he will find out later, he will You have to kill me."
Saying that, he couldn't stay still any longer, he didn't even take the drawing board, he got up and was about to sneak away, but was stopped by Zhou Luochen.
"Xixing, where are you going?" Zhou Luochen asked lightly.
"Mr. Zhou... I'm not skipping class, you can see that, my painting is basically finished." The young man paused, turned around and explained, "I was just thinking, cousin he—"
"Then go and guide Ruo Lin, don't leave here casually."
Zhou Luochen said, his fluttering eyes fell back to Cheng Zhichu, and he said slowly, "Bai Yi will have a chance to see him in the future."
"… is teacher."
The boy reluctantly obeyed Zhou Luochen's request and walked towards a girl. When he went, he looked back at the boy three steps at a time, and whispered in a low voice, "It really seems like..."
What does Senior Bai say he looks like? Like the picture painted by Bai Yi? So Bai Yi had seen him before and painted his portrait
Not only the young boy was confused, but even Cheng Zhichu was puzzled. He still hadn't figured out what the setting in this dungeon was and what it had to do with Bai Yi.
He didn't feel that these were real things. After all, he had never been to City C before, and neither Bai Yi nor Bai Xixing knew him before, but because this dungeon was filled with familiar people, he didn't feel very well now. Always a little irritable.
"Sorry, Mr. Cheng, this kid is my student. He's a little naughty and makes you laugh."
Zhou Luochen asked Bai Xixing, who was still a teenager, to go to the girl's side, looked back at the boy's father and smiled, touched the boy's hair, and said, "This is your child? What's his name?"
"Yes, he is my son, his name is Cheng Zhichu, and I have a younger daughter, called Lingling, who is three years younger than him." The man took the child's hand, "Quick, say hello to Uncle Zhou."
"Hello Uncle Zhou." The boy raised his head and called.
"Good boy."
Zhou Luochen smiled, took out a piece of chocolate and handed it to the boy: "Is it boring to stay here? You can go around, but remember not to go too far."
"Thank you Uncle Zhou."
The boy took the candy, thanked him softly, and ate the chocolate. After obtaining the permission of the two adults, he returned to the sea of roses.
He was very curious about the bone fragments just now, and wanted to go back and have a look. If there really was an underground treasure here, he must dig out the treasure and become an archaeologist like the one on TV.
But... why did he suddenly feel so sleepy...
All of a sudden, his line of sight began to swirl. The boy was completely weak, and fell dizzily into the flowers. The blood-like red color occupied all his sight.
In this enticing sweet aroma, he slowly closed his eyes and fell into a rosy dream, as if he would never wake up again.
…
Cheng Zhichu was also affected by this strong dizziness, and almost passed out, but after persisting for a while, he did not fall into a coma, but woke up again.
Because the boy slept soundly, Cheng Zhichu, who needed to rely on his sight, also became unable to see anything, and his eyes were pitch black, but fortunately, the remaining senses continued to function.
There is a problem with the chocolate given by Zhou Luochen!
Recalling the strange look in Zhou Luochen's eyes when he saw him, although he already felt that something was wrong with this person, Cheng Zhichu still didn't expect him to be so mad and drugged the child directly in front of the parents.
But even if he thought about it at the time, he couldn't make a sound or control his body, he could only watch. After some time, he began to hear his parents shouting his name anxiously, and seemed to realize that he was gone.
"Knowing the beginning? Knowing the beginning!"
Cheng Zhichu also heard Zhou Luochen's voice, and he seemed to know where he fell, and was gradually approaching him. It wasn't long before the footsteps were heard in front of him.
"Neither here."
Hearing Zhou Luochen say this, he felt a chill in his heart, as if he had vaguely understood who the "person" he was going to hide was—
…
When his consciousness was dizzy, the boy felt darkness in front of him, his hands and feet were tightly bound, tape was attached to his mouth, there was a slight bump under him, and there was also the sound of a car whistle.
Is he in the... trunk...
"Hello Mr. Zhou, welcome back to 'Rose Manor'..."
The boy gradually realized that something was wrong. He wanted to struggle and ask for help, but he couldn't resist the strong drowsiness, and soon fell into a deep sleep again.
…
The effect of the medicine gradually passed, and the boy lying on the bed suddenly woke up and sat up suddenly, the velvet quilt on his body slipped down to his waist, which also alarmed the young man who was sitting beside him reading a book.
"you're awake?"
Zhou Luochen took off his glasses, gently closed the book on his lap, and placed it on the coffee table, with his legs crossed, sitting gracefully, and smiled at the boy: "You've slept for a long time, do you feel okay?"
"A little dizzy..."
The boy saw that it was Uncle Zhou he had just met, not a stranger. Although he was still a little uneasy, he relaxed a lot, grabbed the quilt and asked in a low voice, "Uncle Zhou, are there only the two of us here, my parents and my sister. Where are they all?"
"This is uncle's house, your family is outside." Zhou Luochen smiled, "you fell asleep, your family will leave you with me to rest, rest assured, uncle will take good care of you."
"Thank you uncle, but don't bother you anymore, I want to go to my parents."
The boy is still a little scared when he can't see his parents, and the room is very strange. Although it is luxuriously decorated, it has no windows. It is not clear whether it is day or night. It is blocked by a thick black blackout curtain in the middle, and the back is full of roses. Fragrance, also accompanied by a strange smell.
The boy lifted the quilt and wanted to get out of bed, but was held down by Zhou Luochen. Although he didn't exert much force, the strength of an adult man was not something that a child could resist. The boy couldn't get out of bed, so he could only sit back on the bed.
The man sat on the edge of the bed with a smile and said to him, "Zhichu, where do you want to go? Take a good rest here, uncle will take care of you. Come, stretch out your hand."
For some reason, although his tone was very gentle, the boy couldn't help being horrified, his face turned pale, he stretched out his hand tremblingly, and was gently held by Zhou Luochen.
"… uncle?"
"Zhichu's fingernails are a bit long. Uncle is here to help you cut them."
Zhou Luochen took the nail clipper from the bedside table, and despite the boy's weak resistance, he just squeezed his soft fingers, and with a "click", he used the nail clipper to cut off a little of the fingernails that had grown.
"Don't move, or I might hurt you."
"… "
"It's boring, isn't it? Let me tell you a story."
Zhou Luochen lowered his eyes, his hands were very gentle, there was a smile on his lips, and he said in a low voice: "Do you believe that people's dreams will one day become reality? - In other words, a person will dream that he has never seen him before. things that have passed, and such things really exist in the world.”
"Although I am a painter, I never believe in such things, but just today, I actually saw the person in my dream appear in reality."
"I have a student who is a genius and can only be described by the word 'perfect'. There is no one around him who can compare to him, they can't even be jealous of him, they can only look up to him because he was born Just being different.”
"Perhaps because of this, his character has a certain degree of flaws. Although it looks normal, his heart is extremely indifferent and does not easily have emotional fluctuations."
"There is only one exception - when he brings up his dreams."
"He would always dream of the same child in his dreams, for several years."
"Although it was just his dream, the child was so lively, as if it really existed, so he couldn't resist and broke into his world in a dream."
"It happened again and again, so of course, my students gradually became concerned about this child."
"He watched this child grow up, and he could experience all the joys, sorrows and joys of the child in his dreams. The family this child lives in is very ordinary, but he is also very happy. For my students, it is something he cannot touch, but the real world."
"As ridiculous as it may sound, for him, dreams make him feel more alive than reality."
"This child is his dream, the most charming reality and the truest fantasy."
"So I suggested that he draw the child and let his dreams shine into his reality."
"Ah—" The boy suddenly let out a painful cry, interrupting Zhou Luochen's words.
The nail clipper sank into the flesh, blood gushing out, and the sharp pain in his fingertips made him bite his lip and couldn't help but want to withdraw his hand.
"Sorry, did I hurt you?"
Zhou Luochen apologized, but didn't let the boy take back his hand, and continued to cut the nail of the other finger, but this time he cut it harder, cutting the boy's fingertips, and a large drop of blood dripped from the fingertips. , dripped on the velvet quilt, smearing a dazzling red.
"Uncle Zhou! Woo... I don't cut it anymore, I don't want it anymore... "
The boy cried out in pain. Zhou Luochen wiped the blood stains with his fingertips, looked down at the blood on his hands, and suddenly laughed softly, his chest vibrated, and the laughter grew louder and louder, echoing in the quiet room.
"...he drew the child, and you can see that he poured all his emotions into it."
"The painting was so beautiful that I loved it so much that I couldn't help but find an excuse to ask for it and put it in my bedroom so I could watch it day and night."
"Time and time again, I want to tear it apart because it's so beautiful."
"I love beauty and I love children, but what I love the most... is to destroy these pure beauties."
"Shh-"
He opened the heavy blackout curtains to reveal the other half of the room.
The strong smell of blood mixed with the aroma of roses rushed toward the face. In the boy's sharply narrowed pupils, a scene of several rotting young corpses intertwined with red roses was reflected.
Bright and dripping roses reflect mottled black and red bloodstains. On the fragrant petals, it is not butterflies, but flies and maggots. The mucilage nourishes the growth of the flower roots.
The most intriguing aroma is also the most rancid.
The boy's fingertips were bleeding, his face was covered in cold sweat, and he lay on the bed shaking and vomited. Zhou Luochen stood beside him, his eyelashes lowered, and the smile on his lips was so casual, he said softly.
"I thought that painting was the most beautiful, until the moment I saw you, I didn't know that it was so lifeless."
"...It turned out to be you, Zhichu."
"The 'beauty' I really should kill is you."
+++
Bai Yi's Diary Part 40
I was dreaming about the past again.
…
I regret why I didn't think of more cruel means when I killed that man.